West Africa Theological Seminary

New Campus Development Update

Several church teams have begun to come to campus to help us with the exciting process of fully developing the new campus. The first small team was from Bethany Baptist Church in Moline, Illinois. They worked for two weeks during our July undergraduate break period, teaming up with a dozen WATS students and staff members. By September the way was clear for us to expand our VIP guest housing, enabling us to receive larger teams in October, November, December and beyond.

The development of our three-acre campus is aimed toward the goal of eventually handling a student body of 1,000, which we hope can be achieved within five years. This will require us to move through THREE PHASES of campus development.

PHASE ONE involves the completion of our initial move onto campus, including (1) the campus purchase, (2) the transformation of the huge warehouse into classrooms, offices, clinic, chapel and library, (3) the building of a new 100 x 100 bungalow containing more offices, student hostels, and warehouse space, (4) the building of a cyber cafe, (5) the completion of our water system and telephone system, and (6) general initial landscaping. By September about 85% of Phase One was completed and we were within less than $100,000 of our goal.

PHASE TWO is to be officialy kicked off on Saturday, November 18. The details of this phase are to be released on that day. However, it will include at least the following: (1) the building of a huge five-story staff housing complex, including guest quarters, (2) a sizeable endowment fund for WATS staff welfare, (3) reinstallation of campus satellite linkup, (4) completion of campus landscaping, and (5) transportation needs. Phase Two is expected to cost approximately N500 million ($3.8 million).

PHASE THREE will complete our campus development. It will consist primarily of the building of the final and largest building on campus, a five-story multi-purpose building containing our permanent library housing, classrooms, and offices. The cost of Phase Three has yet to be estimated, though tentative architectural plans have been developed.

We believe that the majority of the WATS campus development funding can be raised from within Nigeria. However, we need the help of God's people all around the world to help us reach our goal of a campus that can accommodate 1,000 students. Thank you for praying about what YOU can do to help!

Completing our water system was an integral part of Phase One. Several days of hard work went into our hand-drilled 200 foot deep bore hole for our new water well. Doing it the this way saved us several hundred dollars.

Aaron Thorpe (left), from Canada, and Taiwo Oladipopupo (right) connecting up about 40 telephones through the switchboard.

Earl Nickelson (left), of TechServe USA, directed the telephone team.

Ellen Nickelson (center) cleans and prepares telephone equipment.

Lawal (right) digs the trench to bury the phone cable between buildings.

The Task: Create an attractive patio area with ample space for 84 chairs and 10 tables.

The Moline led team rises to the challenge. They have the tools. They have the talent.

Top row: Getting started (left). Dr Byron Hand in foreground (center). All concrete is mixed by hand (right).

Middle row: Making a level subgrade (left and center). Preparing to pour concrete (right).

Bottom row: Ready for the concrete (left). Engineer Aina oversees the work (center). At last the work is done (right).

The End Result:

An inviting destination!

Bassey (upper left) and Tom (upper right) install security lighting.

Lower right: Tom works on security lighting while Ibrahim looks on.

Upper left: Theophilus, chief cook at the guest quarters, keeps our work teams well fed.

Upper right: Pastor Amos Alabi (right) in discussion with Engineer A. O. Aina.

Lower left: Dr. Byron Hand with Gilbert Obiasogu (Chief of Security).

Lower right: Moline Team with Emmanuel Oyebode, the WATS student they have sponsored.

Left: Gbenga mixes mortar for wall repairs.

Right: Replacing top course of the perimeter wall blocks.

Getting the library into reduced space was a challenge. We still need to put in the library ceiling and, hopefully, air conditioning.

Left: Preparing to Landscape

Right: John Johnson working with McDaniel and Vincent moving palm trees.

Remodeling the Registrar's office!

More new campus updates and pictures can be found here: