Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate 100 years presence in Nigeria

Jehovah’s Witness celebrated the religious group’s 100 years presence in Nigeria on Sunday since its presence in 1921.

The celebratory centenary event was a three–hour programme titled, ‘History-100 Years of Courage! Jehovah’s Witness in Nigeria’.

The programme featured the organisation’s early beginnings in the country from 1921 broken into segments; “1921-1946: Small Beginnings; 1947-1972: Standing Firm Under Test; 1973-1979: Period of Increase and 1998-2021: Courageous Stand in Modern Times.”

During the event, the efforts of the earliest missionaries in Nigeria, Claud Brown and Willaim ‘Bible’ Brown, in spreading the message of the Bible Students, as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then called, in the streets of Lagos.

The celebration also featured a virtual Exhibition Tour, which included the construction of what is referred to as the first Kingdom Hall in the country, situated in Ilesha, in former Western Nigeria, now Osun State in 1935.

The virtual tour included the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ first Branch Office in Nigerian Branch, situated in Shomolu, Lagos in 1956 and the organisation’s first convention in Benin City in 1958.

The centenary celebration did not leave out landmark achievements by the organisation which include the steady growth of the faith in Nigeria, the translation of the Bible and other Bible-based publications in many Nigerian languages, the commencement of four-colour prints since 1990 and the 2021 Report which puts the total number of Witnesses in Nigeria at over 400,000.

To draw a curtain on the event, a Bible-based discourse titled, ‘Maintain Your Courage into the New World’ was presented to attendees.