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From CORAfrica · 5 August 2026

CORAfrica marks twenty years of impact in Nigeria and the USA.

Children of Rural Africa (CORAfrica), the development organisation founded by Rev. Fr. Peter Obele Abue, has celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a renewed commitment to expanding its work in education, healthcare and skills development across Nigeria and beyond.

Guests in white CORAfrica T-shirts and caps lined up before the twentieth-anniversary banner
The celebration in Abuja, 5 August 2026.

The anniversary was celebrated in both Nigeria and the United States. On 5 August 2026, at the Rollins Hotels and Towers, 5th Avenue, Gwarinpa, in Abuja, CORAfrica brought together development partners, donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, members of the Board of Trustees and other guests.

Speaking at the event, the founder of CORAfrica, Fr. Peter Obele Abue, said the organisation was conceived in 2006, while he was studying International Development at Cornell University in the United States. It was later formally registered in Nigeria, and has grown into an organisation dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable children, families and rural communities.

Over two decades, he said, its work has centred on education and healthcare, with agriculture, economic empowerment and community development built around them — above all in Cross River State, and among displaced and vulnerable people in parts of Benue State.

Twenty years in figures

As reported at the anniversary. See the track record →

7,330
Children educated
In the schools we founded
2,550
Children in school
Enrolled today
64
Communities
Served over twenty years
805
Small businesses
Supported to date
513
Women
Supported to date
613
Staff
Employed over twenty years
61
Staff today
On the payroll now

The schools and clinics CORAfrica founded include St. Joseph’s Schools and Orphanage at Idum-Mbube, John Bosco Academy and its primary school at Adagom, in Ogoja, the John Stilley Schools at Victoria-Ikom, and Little Flower Nursery and Primary School at Ipong-Obudu: four primary and four secondary schools in all, with two school clinics, at Idum-Mbube and Victoria-Ikom. According to CORAfrica’s impact report, John Bosco Academy now gives a free education to 955 pupils and students, and the John Stilley Schools have 820 learners.

Its work has also included the Ogoja Diocesan Agriculture and Investment Programme, CORA Farms, scholarships, medical outreach and economic empowerment. HELP-A-KID has supported hundreds of children, and 130 students have so far received support towards higher education and technical skills. CORAfrica has also bought JAMB forms, the registration for Nigeria’s university entrance examination, for 40 young people bound for tertiary study.

Grants, interest-free loans, micro-credit and business training have supported hundreds of people. The St. Thomas Aquinas and Holy Family Parish economic empowerment programmes alone have supported more than 805 people, and other livelihood schemes have reached women and men across the areas where CORAfrica works. On the land, the work has spanned crop production, livestock, farmer training and climate-smart agriculture, and the Food Availability and Expansion Programme has given refugee families agricultural inputs, for food security and a livelihood.

Eight guests in CORAfrica T-shirts and caps in front of the anniversary banner
Abuja, 5 August 2026.
Two women in CORAfrica T-shirts and caps, smiling as they look down
Among the guests.
Two men in CORAfrica T-shirts and caps seated at a table
At the celebration.
A woman and a man on either side of the twentieth-anniversary banner
The banner: twenty years, 2006–2026.

What comes next

Skills, and the next twenty years.

Looking ahead, Fr. Peter said CORAfrica would keep its relationship with the Catholic Diocese of Ogoja while taking its programmes to other parts of Nigeria and Africa. The next phase, he said, will give greater weight to vocational and technical training, digital literacy, emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, and climate consciousness: the goal is to equip young people in rural and suburban communities with practical, market-ready skills that improve their employability and their capacity for enterprise.

Also speaking, CORAfrica’s Project Manager, Mr. Elijah Ugani, said the organisation had adopted an integrated model of development, the Community Education Centre, designed to meet the interconnected challenges facing disadvantaged communities rather than to address them one at a time.

In their welcome addresses, Mr. Michael Ana, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Mr. Adewale Ajayi, CORAfrica’s National Programmes Coordinator, both described the celebration as a chance to reflect on two decades of service while looking ahead to a new phase of expansion.

Read the strategic plan How the model works

In the United States

Twenty years of hope, impact and transformation.

In the United States, the anniversary was marked in New York and Pennsylvania, under the theme “20 Years of Hope, Impact and Transformation: Celebrating Our Legacy, Inspiring the Future.” The founder thanked the donors, volunteers and members of the Board of Trustees who have supported CORAfrica’s work over twenty years.

The anniversary closed with a renewed call for stronger partnerships, and for greater investment in sustainable opportunities for children, young people, women and underserved communities in Nigeria and beyond.

A young man in a CORAfrica cap beside the twentieth-anniversary banner
The anniversary banner.
Supporters in CORAfrica caps around a table set outdoors
Around the table.
Six supporters in CORAfrica caps on either side of the anniversary banner
Supporters in the United States.
Guests walking past the anniversary banner in an open-air plaza
Twenty years, 2006–2026.