Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion has created 15 new dioceses in addition to its existing 161 dioceses as part of move to ease the administration of the Church.
The new dioceses according to a statement by the Church’s Communication Officer, Korede Akintunde, were approved during the Standing Committee Meeting of the Church holding at the Cathedral Church Emmanuel, Okesha, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State from September 15 to 19.
Some of the dioceses are however missionary dioceses while others are full fledged dioceses. The full fledged dioceses include: Ekiti South, Kalabari, Lagos South West, Omoku, and Ozoro . The Missionary Dioceses .are: Eket, Idanre, Ikom, Keffi, Nasarawa, Ogoja, Oyo South, Oyun, Takum, and Zuru.
The approval according to the statement ‘came after several visits, inspections, validation and processes targeted at verifying the status of the applications for the creation of the Dioceses were received’
The statement noted that three teams were setup in September 2024 after the moratorium on creating a new diocese was lifted. The teams were saddled with the task of receiving inspecting and verifying all applications for the creation of new dioceses.
‘The inspection teams include Old Province 1 headed by Archbishop Joseph Akinfenwa, Old Province 2 headed by Archbishop David Onuoha while Old Province 3 headed by Archbishop Daniel Yisa.
“They presented their fact-finding report at the Standing Committee held at Niger-Delta Diocese in February 2025 which formed the basis of the assignments of the Church of Nigeria Validation Team on the creation of full-fledged and missionary Dioceses which was constituted and inaugurated by the Primate on 27th March, 2025, headed by the Most Rev’d Dr Timothy Yahaya.
‘The Validation Team in turn visited, inspected and verified the contents of the report of the Inspection Teams and Verification Committee and made the recommendations to the Primate on the creation of full-fledged and missionary Dioceses in the Church of Nigeria.
“At the Episcopal Synod held on 11th July, 2025 at Emmanuel Anglican Church, Iji-Nike, Enugu State, the Primate of All Nigeria, the Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba presented the report of the Validation Team and her recommendations to the Synod for consideration and approval.”
The approval was done today at the Standing Committee of the Church in Ekiti
According to the statement other processes, election of bishops, consecration, inaugurations and enthronement dates shall be announced in due course.
