Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for the Benin City Nigeria Temple

On Saturday, May 24, 2025, the ancient Benin City, Nigeria, came alive as members, leaders and invited guests gathered to perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the Benin City Nigeria Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The ceremony was presided over by Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran, First Counselor in the Africa West Area Presidency, who also offered the dedicatory prayer on the site. He was accompanied by his wife, Olufunmilayo, and by Elder Isaac K. Morrison, Second Counselor in the Africa West Area Presidency, with his wife, Hannah.

During the April 2020 general conference of the Church, President Russell M. Nelson announced that a temple would be built in Benin City, Nigeria, the third house of the Lord to be built in the country. Upon completion, the temple will occupy a 2.17-acre site located at 16 Commercial Avenue, Benin City. The site will also host an arrival center and patron housing.

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In his message to the gathering, titled “God’s Love made Manifest in the Temple,” Elder Ojediran pointed out the numerous blessings we receive through temple attendance. He stated, “Temples are sacred places where we make sacred covenants with God and receive blessings for ourselves and our families, living and dead. They are houses of the Lord, places of peace and learning, where we can seek spiritual guidance for crucial decisions and concerns, and where we can receive revelations and draw closer to God. Their principal purpose is to provide ordinances and covenants necessary for the children of God to enable them to return to dwell with Him. Temple ordinances and covenants lead to the greatest blessings available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

He then proceeded to offer the dedicatory prayer:

“Father, acting in the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood and under the direction of President Russell M. Nelson, who holds and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys, I now dedicate and consecrate this sacred site for the construction of the house of the Lord, Benin City Nigeria Temple. We petition Thee, dear Father in Heaven, to bless and hallow and sanctify this site. We pray that the construction of the temple will be accomplished according to the approved plans to accommodate Thy divine purposes. We pray for all who participate in the construction of this temple that they may feel its divine purpose and be protected from harm, injury, or danger. We pray that they will be touched by Thy Spirit and feel the eternal significance of this magnificent and sacred edifice. We pray that Thou would thwart the efforts of any who might approach this site with ill intent.”

He prayed for the hearts of the children to be turned to their fathers and the hearts of their fathers to be turned to theirs. He expressed gratitude for our ancestors, praying, “May we learn who they are, find their qualifying information and bless their lives with sacred rites offered vicariously in this, Thy holy house.”

Local members of the Church in the Benin City area also participated in the event, including Elder Charles O. Oide, an Area Seventy in the Africa West Area who conducted the ceremony, youths Opeyemi Folorunsho Sunday and Eunice Ebevuhe, and patriarch Frank O. Erahabor, a pioneer of the Church in Benin City.

Significantly, Elder Ojediran, who presided at today’s event, was sustained as a General Authority Seventy at the April 2020 general conference, where the Benin City Nigeria Temple was also announced.

Nigeria now has one temple in operation (Aba), two under construction (Lagos and Benin City), and four (Eket, Calabar, Abuja and Uyo) that have been announced.

Latter-day Saints consider each temple a house of the Lord and the most sacred place of worship on earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ to participate in sacred ceremonies such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.