Anglican Church Creates 15 New Dioceses

The Church of Nigeria, part of the Anglican Communion, has approved the creation of 15 new dioceses, increasing its total number from 161 to 176 across the country.

The Church’s Communication Officer, Korede Akintunde, confirmed this development in a statement on Thursday.

Korede stated that the decision was made at the Standing Committee Meeting of the Church, held in Ekiti State from September 15 to 19, 2025.

He added that the approval followed a series of inspections, verifications and validation exercises after the lifting of the moratorium on the creation of new dioceses in September 2024. The findings were presented to the Episcopal Synod on July 11, 2025, where Primate Henry Ndukuba submitted the recommendations for approval.

According to the statement, out of the 15 dioceses, five dioceses, including Ekiti South, Kalabari, Lagos South West, Omoku, and Ozoro, will operate as full-fledged diocese, while 10 dioceses, including Eket, Idanre, Ikom, Keffi, Nasarawa, Ogoja, Oyo South, Oyun, Takum, and Zuru, were approved as missionary dioceses.

“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 Reverend Dr Timothy Yahaya,” the statement read partly.

“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,” it added.