More than 100 priests and hundreds of Catholic worshippers attended the nine-metre (30-foot) statue's official unveiling in the village of Abajah in Imo state, Nigeria.
The statute was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it. It was placed in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012.
In his homily at a Mass before unveiling the statue, presiding bishop Augustine Tochukwu Okwuoma said it is a "very great symbol of faith" for Catholic worshippers and passers-by alike and remind them of the importance of Jesus Christ," The presiding Bishop blessed the statue after mass.
The cost of the statue has not been revealed.
The 43-year-old boss of an oil and gas service company timed the statue's unveiling to coincide with his parents' 50th wedding anniversary.
He said the idea of building a giant statue of Jesus came to him in a dream nearly 20 years ago.
And when his 68-year-old mother fell seriously ill a few years ago, she made him promise that he would build a church if she survived.
Source: AFP
Source: AFP
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