In as much as this writer does not believe in press sycophancy but honour should be accorded to whom it is due, it is on this premise one should felicitate with the Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of the Metropolitan See of Ibadan, Most Reverend Dr. Felix Alaba Job, the former President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.

 

Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job means many things to different set of people; the priests, the religious, the laity, those in government; the political class; the Christian Association of Nigeria, the Catholic professionals; the youths; the adherents of various non-Christian faith.

 

Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job has every cause to thank God for clocking Eighty-Eight years old, in the present world, where life expectancy is very short. There is no doubt that the Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job had served God, the Church and humanity to the best of his ability and can now look back and say, “To God be the Glory”. 

 

As at the time Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job was appointed the auxiliary bishop of the then Catholic Diocese of Ibadan, fifteen months after the end of the bloody Nigerian Civil War, he was adjudged to be the youngest priest in Africa, if not in the world, to be so appointed to the top Church’s hierarchy. Many foreign journalists came to cover the event. Most of the Bishops, apart from Lagos, Ijebu-Ode, Onitsha, and other few dioceses, were whites. This writer as a young person, was privileged to watch the Episcopal consecration right from St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral gallery. 

I travelled with His Grace, then Auxiliary Bishop, in his Peugeot 404 to Minna for the Episcopal consecration of the then Bishop of Minna, His Lordship Most Rev. Dr. Christopher Abba, of the blessed memory, in December 1973. Two other occupants inside the car were a Senior seminarian Mr. Francis Ajayi now of the blessed memory and Mr. Adekoya the then Latin teacher at St. Teresa Minor Seminary Oke-Are, Ibadan.

 

It was a long distance journey of over twelve hours with stop-over at historical towns of Ilorin and Bida. We arrived at Minna, in the evening. During dinner, the three Laity who followed His Grace were introduced to other Bishops in attendance and they also had the privilege to dine, on the same table, with about Seventeen Young Nigerian Bishops, now in their old age and some had passed to eternal life. 

With the retirement of Late Bishop Richard Finn SMA, as the Bishop of Ibadan, in the mid-seventies, the mantle of leadership of the then Diocese of Ibadan was finally handed over to His Grace. As at the time he assumed office, there were only two indigenous priests, Reverend Father A.K. Silva and Reverend Father Felix Adeigbo, both of blessed memory on ground.

 

There was no priestly ordination in the Diocese of Ibadan from 1970 until 1975 when the late Reverend Fathers Jem Murumba Oguogho and Bernard Ogunsola were ordained at St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral at Oke Padi, Ibadan and subsequent ordinations followed. Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job has ordained over ninety diocesan priests within the period of his episcopacy. 

It was during his time that the Diocese of Ibadan was elevated to the Ecclesiastical Catholic Province of Ibadan in 1994 with His Grace Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job being the first Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese. The dioceses under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese were Ibadan, Oyo, Osogbo, Ondo, Ekiti and Ilorin.

 

The Archdiocese can proudly boast of forty viable parishes, with many quasi-parishes and out-stations during his tenure.

He also created four deaneries North, South, East and Central in which elderly and experienced priests were appointed as the Deans of the deaneries. He also appointed the first Nigerian Vicar-General to assist in overseeing the Affairs of the Archdiocese in the person of Rt. Rev. Monsignor Peter Odetoyinbo, who is now the Bishop of Abeokuta Diocese. 

 

Many achievements have been recorded in areas of Education, areas of provision of medical health care, agriculture, and social institutions which generate employment.

 

Many foreign religious bodies, both males and females were encouraged to establish their congregations in the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan and their impact can be seen in the area of evangelization, vocation and human development.

 

There are various attributes one can attach to Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job in commemoration of his 88th birthday anniversary. He is a spiritual leader who believes strongly in the efficacy of prayer and the passing on of Church history to the younger generation. Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job during his tenure was not discriminatory among other religious leaders. 

As he is celebrating 3 in 1 events - 60 years in Priesthood, 55 years of his Episcopacy and 88th year of his chronological age on earth, we wish him more divine guidance and protection, good health of mind and body, Ad-Multos Annos.