Dominic Ignatius Ekandem (1917 – 24 November, 1995) was a Nigerian Catholic

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

who served as Archbishop of Abuja from 1989 until 1992.. He was the first native

West African West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Ma ...

Catholic bishop in history. He also founded the

Missionary Society of Saint Paul of Nigeria The Missionary Society of St Paul of Nigeria is a Catholic religious congregation based in Nigeria and serving parishes in African, North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. It was founded by Cardinal Dominic Ekandem in 1976. History The Miss ...

(M.S.P.). A native of

Akwa Ibom State Akwa Ibom State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered on the east by Cross River State, on the west by Rivers State and Abia State, and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The state takes its name from the Qua Iboe ...

, Ekandem attended several

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

seminaries before he became a priest. He was ordained on 7 December 1947, and became the first priest from the old

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language. The city is adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and cre ...

province. His first assignment as bishop was as auxiliary of Calabar from 1953 to 1963. He was Bishop of Ikot Ekpene from 1963 to 1981; during that tenure, in April 1976, he was named a cardinal. He then became Ecclesiastical Superior of Abuja, and when Abuja became an Archdiocese in 1989, he became its Archbishop (personal title). Ekandem died in 1995.

References

* Toyin Falola, History of Nigeria Participants in the Second Vatican Council Nigerian cardinals 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Nigeria People from Akwa Ibom State 1917 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Nigeria Cardinals created by Pope Paul VI Roman Catholic archbishops of Abuja Roman Catholic bishops of Ikot Ekpene {{Africa-RC-archbishop-stub