It is also the fifth tallest sculpture in the continent, almost half the size of the Great Sphinx of Giza.
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While the 160 ft tall African Renaissance Monument bronze statue in Senegal is no doubt the tallest statue in Africa, the statue of Jesus De Greatest is definitely the tallest statue of Jesus in the continent, standing almost 8-and-a-half meters (28 feet) tall in Abajah village (Imo state) in southern Nigeria.
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Half the size of the Great Sphinx of Giza (thus being the fifth tallest sculpture in Africa) Jesus De Greatest was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a devout Catholic businessman, who hired a Chinese company to carve the white marble statue in 2013. Weighing around 40 tons, the statue has been described by Onuoha as “a symbol of peace” in a country that by then had already seen more than 17.000 people killed by Boko Haram, mostly in the north.
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The tallest Catholic church in the world is in Africa
Unveiled on January 1, 2016, the statue is part of the St. Aloysius Catholic Church parish in Abajah.