The Igbo College of Bishops and Archbishops has explained that the Igbo Annual Thanksgiving and Adoration Day is designed to thank God for preserving the Igbo people during the Nigerian Civil War.
The church leaders made this known on January 26, 2026, during a press briefing in Enugu ahead of the proposed annual thanksgiving, scheduled to hold every last Saturday of January.
Speaking to journalists, the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu Province, Most Rev. Sosthenes Eze, said the thanksgiving service was jointly initiated by church leaders across the South-East as a spiritual response to the survival of the Igbo people after the devastating civil war of 1967 to 1970.
Eze, who also serves as Bishop of Enugu North Anglican Diocese, stressed that the event is strictly religious and not political, noting that Igbo people across the world are expected to participate.
According to him, despite the end of the war, Igbo people have continued to face various forms of marginalisation and denial of rights in different places and at different times.
“They are being oppressed, and when they travel outside the country, their properties are often the first to be destroyed. Yet, in spite of all these challenges, God has kept the Igbo people strong and thriving,” he said.
He explained that the thanksgiving would be observed annually every last Saturday of January and called on political, business, religious and traditional leaders of Igbo extraction to fully identify with the programme.
Also speaking, Bishop Obi Onubogu of the Rock Family Church, Enugu, reflected on his personal survival during the war, describing the event as a profound moment of gratitude.
“I was in my twenties during the war and today I am 86 years old. If I did not survive, my children and 15 grandchildren would not exist,” he said.
According to him, the Igbo people endured hunger, displacement, loss of property and loss of lives, but chose gratitude over bitterness.
“We did not survive by strength or wisdom. We survived by the mercies of God. This is why we are choosing thanksgiving,” he added.
On his part, Archbishop Amos Madu, Emeritus Archbishop of the Enugu Ecclesiastical Province and first Bishop of Oji River Diocese, said the annual thanksgiving would also serve as a unifying platform for the Igbo nation.
He noted that beyond gratitude, the gathering would strengthen collective identity, shared history and spiritual cohesion among Igbo people worldwide.
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