His Lordship, Most Rev. Dr. Martin Igwemezie Uzoukwu, the Vocation Directors - Very Rev. Fr. Gabriel Nelson Onuh and Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Nwosu, the Rector and Parish Priest of St. Johnpaul II Parish/Institute, Nanati - Very Rev. Fr. Moses Malachi and Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ibitoye respectively, the Chairman of the participants in this workshop - Rev. Fr. John Gbakan, Venerable Rev. Frs. present, my brother Seminarians and Sisters, greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Divine Mercy incarnate and our mother the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Let me take this opportunity to thank the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – for the mercies accorded to be here during this period of DELES workshop which started two years back. Permit me to say it has been a wonderful experience.

Firstly, with gratitude and honour on behalf of my brother Seminarians, I humbly welcome and extend a very hearty vote of thanks to my lord Bishop, Most Rev. Dr. Martin Igwemezie Uzoukwu – the chief shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Minna, the Father Founder, Missionaries of Divine Mercy (MDM) and Missionaries Sisters of Saint Faustina (MSSF) and the Ambassador of Divine Mercy Africa and Madagascar who blessed us with his presence, taking time out of his busy schedule. My lord, we say welcome. We thank you for the privilege given us to become enlightened by this DELES workshop for the past two years so as to make good leaders now and in the future. My lord, we cannot thank you enough.

Since gratitude is the aroma of the heart, I must mention our deep sense of appreciation for the Vocation Directors – Very Rev. Frs. Gabriel Nelson Onuh and Anthony Nwosu of the Diocese and MDM respectively, for their untiring effort to seeing that we organized and well cared for through the course of the DELES workshop.

Also I would like to extend a special thanks to the Rector and Parish Priest of St. Johnpaul ii Parish/Institute, Nanati – Very Rev. Fr. Moses Malachi and Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ibitoye respectively, for welcoming, accommodating and making the environment conducive for us each time we come here, by allowing us share their scarce resources of water and electrical power for the past two years.

I also wish to express our sentiments of gratitude to our elder brothers, the Venerable Rev. Frs. Ordained since last year to this present time, from amongst who is Rev.Fr. John Gbakan the chairman of the participants in this DELES workshop. We thank you for the words of encouragement and mostly for the celebrations of the holy Mass and other liturgical functions for and with us.

I especially like to thank our facilitators, the triad of Joe, Amaka and Uche who have been our anchor through the course of the DELES. Permit me to say you have with the River of Life taken us on a voyage of discovery; tutored us in proper planning with the PPF; you have with the Johari's Window given us a window of opportunity into our weaknesses and strength; prescribed for us ways of managing our emotions, weaknesses and of other people by knowledge of Temperaments; with the Listening Skills you have made us good listeners in a noisy world; molded us into good leaders with the Leadership and Developmental skills; made us winners with the 3Cs model of winning and finally have commissioned us as apostles and ambassadors of DELES by Certifying us. I must confess that we have learned, experienced, known and even grown higher from your teachings, guidance and counseling. For your patience and dedication born from a good sense of deontological ethics, we say THANK YOU. We cannot thank you enough but promise to make good use of all we have learnt for personal growth and development, to better Minna Diocese, Niger State and Nigeria at large.

As no program can become successful with a single person and not to take gratitude for granted, I extended a big THANKS to my brother Seminarians and Sisters for your contributions, docility, co-operation and active participation through the cause of the DELES workshop and congratulate us all for the certification which marks the end of DELES for us as participants.

Finally, our journey thus far together in the cause of the DELES workshop depicts collaboration and unity in praxis which Jesus Christ emphasized and prayed for in the Gospel of John 17: 21. Hence, we pray for more forum as this which will help equip us together for a better Minna Diocese, bound by the love of God forever in His kingdom, through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.

Thank you.

By
Offodile Oluchukwu Christopher