EVANGELIZATION

In 1996, the need for intensive evangelization of the Local Church , led to the establishment of the Apostolic Prefecture of Kontagora. Two (2) Parishes, Zuru and Kontagora were carved out from Minna Diocece to form the Kontagora Prefecture , with other parishes from Ilorin and Sokoto Dioceses.

Today, there are twenty-five (30) parishes and many Quasi Parishes in the Diocese, spread over an area of about 56,229,000sq kilometers, extending from Kagara to Suleja, Erena to Mokwa; covering a greater part of Niger State. The major ethnic composition of the Diocese include - Nupe, Gbagyi, (Gwari), Kadara, Koro and Kamuku. The Diocese also has a substantial Igbo and Yoruba population, while English and Hausa are used for liturgical celebrations. A rough estimate of the current Catholic population is put at 55,000.

Minna Diocese can boast of a number of educational institutions. These include - Nursery/Primary schools in almost all parishes in Minna Diocese. The most prominent of these institutions has been Fatima Secondary School (now Government Secondary School ) Minna. Very Rev. Fr. D. O'Connell, SPS, has been running the school as principal since its establishment in 1966, in a wonderful School Apostolate. This is inspite of the government take over of Schools. Today the Diocese boasts of three secondary schools; St Clement's Secondary School Minna (Minna Deanery), St. Mary's College Suleja (Kwamba Deanery) and St. Patrick's (Boarding) Secondary School, Zungeru (Zungeru Deanery).

Over the past twenty-five years, Minna Diocese has been serve by volunteer priests from other Dioceses and congregations, in order to fill up the gap created by low vocations turn out. Such kind gestures have been received from the Archdioceses of Kaduna and Onitsha , the Dioceses of Limerick, Kilimore, Kafachan, Uyo, Idah, Ilorin , Makurdi, Enugu and Okigwe. Similar gesture have also been received from the Missionaries of St. Paul (MSP), Oblates of the Blessed Virgin Mary (OMV) and the Claretians, C.M.F.

In its effort to boost the missionary activity of the Church, the Catholic Bishop of Minna Most Rev. Dr. Martin Uzoukwu has established solid structures in response to the Holy Father's Encyclical ‘Dives Misericordia' (Rich in Mercy) of 1980. Such structures include: The Divine Mercy Academy, Erena – Minna, Missionaries of Divine Mercy Congregation, Family Apostles of the Divine Mercy, Association of Priests and Religious, DMD, and Devotees, Lovers, Friends of the Divine Mercy Incarnate. Through the Divine Mercy Academy and the Missionaries of Divine Mercy Congregation founded by Bishop Uzoukwu, today in Nigeria, The Divine Mercy Devotion has taken roots in many Achdioceses, Dioceses, Parishes, Seminaries, Religious formation Houses, Secondary and Tertiary Institutions and most importantly in families, the ‘Domestic Church'.

The Diocese of Minna belongs to the Ecclesiastical Province of Kaduna, and the seat of the Bishop is at St. Michael - the Arch-Angel Cathedral, Minna.