The Bible Society of Nigeria has put together a comprehensive programme to mark its 60th anniversary with the theme Celebrating Impact and Building a Legacy of Hope.
The Society was founded on February 8 1966, through the pioneering efforts of the late Dr Francis Ezeogo Akanu Ibiam, the first indigenous Governor of the defunct Eastern Region in Nigeria
Dr Ibiam had, in February 1965, initiated a consultation with representatives of most of the Churches and church-related organisations in Nigeria on the need to form a national Bible Society. It was the unanimous decision of that meeting that gave birth to the Bible Society of Nigeria, which consequently led to its formation and inauguration on February 8, 1966.
Before 1966, the Society was under the supervision of the British and Foreign Bible Society [BFBS], which had operated in Nigeria as far back as 1807. Then the Bible House, Apapa, served as a distribution centre for neighbouring West African countries.
The 60th anniversary
The 60th anniversary, according to the General Secretary/CEO of the organisation, Pastor Samuel Sanusi, will commence on Monday February 2 with a Bible exhibition featuring two different handwritten Bibles, the Bible in various Nigerian languages, and the Legacy Bible. The Legacy Bible weighs 15.4 kg, and it’s in five languages.
Pastor Sanusi made this known at a press conference on Saturday, January 24 during which he highlighted some of the landmark impacts of the society in the last 60 years.
Other events slated for the celebration are a Bible walk from National Stadium, Surulere, to Obanikoro in Lagos on February 3, the hosting of dinner for partners on February 4 to appreciate them for their support, as well as the dedication of the second studio for the Deaf Bible Translation Project located at Ibadan, Oyo State.
The CEOs conference, planned to coincide with the anniversary programme, will be held on February 5, while February 6 has been slated for the society’s Founder’s Day lecture and awards to be chaired by Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Pastor Poju Oyemade, the Senior Pastor of The Covenant Nations, is the guest speaker for the Founder’s Day event. The celebration will wrap up with a Thanksgiving service at The Covenant Nations on Sunday, February 8.
Sanusi informed that the BSN has produced a 13-episode documentary of its activities in the last 60 years, which will be shown on DOVE TV.
A book commemorating its 60 years of Bible work in Nigeria, titled: Six Decades of Impact, Transmitting the WORD, Transforming Lives, will also be presented to the public as part of activities marking the anniversary.
Also speaking at the press conference,.Patrick Ohakawa, Manager Administration who is also the Manager Planning Committee for the anniversary described the 60th anniversary as .significant milestone in the BSN
“60 years of service to God. Is worth celebrating. This 60 years is not about longevity it is celebration of faith, resilience service and sacrifice. For us to have remained afloat despite challenges, there is need to appreciating God.”
impact
Sanusi, who is the 9th CEO of the BSN since its founding, emphasised that the society was established to make the Word of God available and affordable to Nigerians in their preferred languages and formats, helping them engage with the Word of God through life-transforming programmes.
This work, according to him, is carried out through Bible translation, publishing, distribution, organising life-transforming programmes and fund-raising.
“We are a member of the United Bible Societies, a world fellowship of 155 National Bible Societies working to place God’s Word in the hands and hearts of the people we serve across 200 countries and territories.” He said
While expressing joy that the BSN is 60, Sanusi informed that the organisation is currently working on 11 different Bible revision/translation projects at different stages of completion.
He revealed that one of the greatest achievements of the BSN in the last 60 years is the ability to help the deaf hear the word of God. “By that, we have broken any known barrier to man that makes the word of God inaccessible. Globally, only the USA has the complete Bible in sign language- American Sign Language.
“And they achieved the feat in 2020 after 39 years of work. You may then ask: What happens to other deaf Christians in other parts of the world? Nigeria is the first country in Africa, among other Bible Societies, to build a centre dedicated to Bible translation into Sign Language.
“The centre was built in 2017. The deaf in Nigeria had no form of Scripture until BSN, in partnership with DOOR International and the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, took up the challenge in 2014,” Sanusi said.
Between 2014 and 2023, 222 Chronological Bible Stories, according to him, have been translated and produced in the Nigerian Sign Language for the deaf community.
Having completed the translation of the Chronological Bible Stories, the BSN has embarked on the project to have a complete Bible in the Nigerian Sign Language Bible, beginning with the New Testament.
This, according to Sanusi, began in October 2023 with the Book of Matthew. “The Book of Matthew is completed and ready for use. The team is currently working on other Books of the New Testament.” He said
He noted that translation into sign language is far more expensive than regular translations.
Between 2023 and 2024 the BSN according to him, spent over ₦105.3m on the project. “Our goal is to make the full Bible available in the Nigerian Sign Language within the next 20 years or less, if sufficient resources are available.” He said.
Bible distribution
In the last five years, Sanusi said the BSN had distributed 7,870,296 copies of assorted Bibles to Nigerians. “BSN has remained unbeatable in Africa as the leading Bible Society in Bible distribution for more than two decades now. The Scripture Distribution Report published annually by United Bible Societies shows that out of a total of Africa’s 5.45 million copies of full Bibles distributed in 2024, The Bible Society of Nigeria alone accounted for 1.15 million copies, representing 21.1% of the total figure distributed by the 41 Bible Societies across Africa.”
BSN has also maintained the lead in English Bible distribution among the over 155 national Bible Societies globally. “Our regular free distribution to the less privileged is at an average cost of ₦10m yearly, depending on the number of requests and what our budget can accommodate.” He said.
Impactful programmes
Beyond Bible distribution, the BSN organises different programmes to encourage people to engage with the Bible. They include Marathon Bible Reading, Primary and Secondary School Bible Competitions, Bible Competition for the deaf and visually impaired (blind), and NYSC Essay Competition.
It also organises Trauma Healing for churches and trains church leaders on how to handle cases of trauma, while its Macedonian Call department is used to assist those in Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) and slum dwellers with relief materials, clothing, Bibles and back-to-school packs for school children.
The Macedonian Call, according to him, commenced in 2018 and has benefited over 50, 000 people in over 20 Internally Displaced People’s Camps in Nigeria. We hope to spend the sum of ₦306,372,700 on this project this year, subject to the availability of funds from our donors and well-meaning Nigerians.
While calling on Nigerians to join in the celebration, Sanusi stated that God has been the one who has preserved the organisation till now and “still counting”
He called on the government to reconsider its abolition of indigenous languages as a medium of teaching in schools, as announced by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, during the Language in Education International Conference 2025 organised by the British Council in Abuja.
While acknowledging the reason for the action is to curb the rate of failure in national examinations, Sanusi said the action will not encourage the growth and usage of our mother tongues.
“We should be proud of our languages. The death of a language is the death of a culture and the death of a people. Language is part of our identity, and we should be proud of it anywhere, any day and at any time. Some languages have gone into extinction in Nigeria because they were not in active usage. We translate the Bible into Nigerian languages because not everyone understands the English Language.”
He decried a situation where the English language is prioritised over our indigenous languages “Let us teach our children mother tongues both at home and in schools. Other countries in Africa and elsewhere also adopted other foreign languages as a medium of national communication or official languages, but not at the detriment of their own local languages.”