BRIEF HISTORY AND MISSION OF THE SPIRITAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY (SIST) ATTAKWU, ENUGU.
How it Started
The idea of establishing a theological school to cater for the formation
of Spiritan religious missionaries in the Sub-region of West Africa was first proposed in September 1983 during a meeting of the Spiritan Major Superiors held in Rome. This meeting was attended by Superiors from the former Province
of Nigeria, the District of Kwara-Benue, the Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone-Liberia and Senegal. The following year 1984, precisely June 23-24, another meeting was held by the same Superiors of the West African region and a decision
was taken to erect a regional seminary and school of theology in Enugu. The German Province raised much of the fund with which the General Council financed the project. The Propaganda Fide in Rome also gave ssome money for the
construction.
The decision of the Superiors was informed by the desire to respond positively to the obvious rapid growth of vocations in places like Nigeria and Ghana. There was need to device and
implement a formation
programme that would effectively address the contemporary demands of mission and yet take into account African realities. Exploring ways of being rooted in one’s culture while at the same time having international and intercultural
experiences was seen as the most viable way to achieve the goals of inculturation in the Church. Collaboration in the area of staff and finance in the West African region was considered an advantage towards
realizing this idea.
Once this decision was taken, Spiritans in Nigeria were mandated to search for a suitable place to site the seminary. In 1980, the Spiritans in Nigeria had acquired a piece of land at the Attakwu community in Akegbe-Ugwu,
but it was not big enough for the possible desired
school. After considering many factors and other possible places, this land in Attakwu was chosen for this new school but on a condition that more acres of land be added to
the existing plot. The successful construction of a bridge along the road was the climax of the road project.
The first Rector of SIST fought like a lion to establish the school on a sound and solid academic foundation.
Since all the students that came to SIST had a certificate in philosophy, the Rector did not waste time to affiliate SIST to Duquesne University of the Holy Ghost, Pittsburgh, for the award of Masters Degree in Theology. This has
been the case ever since. With new developments there was need for a first degree and an affiliation to a national university in Nigeria. In 1992, the Senate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on its 21st meeting, approved the
application of SIST for affiliation to the University for the Award of BA in Religion. The BA programme is accredited by the NUC (National Universities Commission) and the graduation of the first students with BA in Religion took
place in 1995. Ever since then, this affiliation has been operative and the relationship between the institutions cordial. Eventually in the year 2009, the Governing Council of SIST approved the proposal for the awards of ordinary
and higher diplomas in theology by the school.
Since 1992, when SIST became affiliated to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the study of religion has been part of the history of the Institute. On two occasions, we came
to lose our affiliation with UNN because the Nigerian University Commission said that there is no
department of religion at SIST. With the approval of the Governing Council SIST was departmentalized in September, 2019 into the
following: Department of Theology, Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, School of Post-Graduate Studies and the General and Foundation Studies Unit. The departments and units have heads and secretaries.
Road Expansion
The
road that passed at the middle of SIST from the highway served as thoroughfare for the villagers and visitors to the Ndiagu-Attakwu community. This was one of the biggest challenges faced by the Institution both in terms of security
and the serenity of a seminary or an academic environment. The newly constructed road was officially opened on April
14, 2018, with the presence of representatives from the government of Enugu State, NTA, the police, the General
Council, the UCAWA Superiors, the Ndiagu-Attakwu community, and the Igwe of Attakwu and his cabinet.
SIST as an institute established a number of awards to motivate and encourage the students in both academic and all development
of the individual person. The first award was the Uzukwu award for the best graduating student writing, Since then the institute has
established other awards which includes:
Best student in Music, Best student in Creative
Arts, Best Student in Sports, Best student in Internal Publication of Articles within the School, and External Publications like the Nacaths
Journal, Best Thesis of the Year, The Most Outstanding Student in Propagating the Holy
Spirit and over all Best Student of the year. The school is equally looking at more awards but the over all focus is to motivate the students to work hard and do best in any chosen field.
By Rev. Fr. Dr .Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp.
