News Story

Bridge Erected by Latter-day Saints Generates Social and Economic Benefits in Nigerian Communities

A bridge built by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nigeria has brought joy and an economic boost to its neighboring communities.

Villagers of Ikot Okwot and Ikot Oduatang recently gathered at the new bridge that links the two villages and celebrated with songs and prayers. The construction of the bridge was part of the Church’s All African Helping Hands Service Projectin August, involvingthousands of Latter-day Saints in Nigeria who completed 140 different projects. They donated about 50,000 hours of volunteer service.

The heads of the two villages, Chief Nathan Willie Akpan of Ikot Okwot and Chief Samuel Asuquo Umoh of Ikot Oduatang commended the Church, expressing their appreciation for the community service in a joint communiqué.

The communiqué stated, “The bridge communally constructed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints free of charge has facilitated enormous economic growth between the two communities.”

According to Chief Akpan,crossing over to the next village usually took over an hourbefore the service project.“But now, it is just a five minute journey,” he said.

Sunday Esien, youth leader inIkot Okwot remarked that many children could not attend school prior to the construction of the bridge. He also added that commercial and socio-cultural activities between neighboring villages have improved because of the new crossing.

In the countries of West Africa, many thousands of hours of service have been rendered by about 350 Latter-day Saint congregations over the past six years.

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