The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nigeria refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members in Nigeria. At year-end 1983, there were 2,255 members in Nigeria.[4] In 2022, there were 221,172 members in 769 congregations making it the largest body of LDS Church members in Africa.
In the 1950s and 1960s, several thousand native Nigerians became interested in joining the LDS Church, despite the church having no formal presence in the country. In November 1962, LeMar Williams was set apart as a mission president in Nigeria. However, he was not able to get a visa as an American. N. Eldon Tanner, a Canadian, went to Nigeria and began negotiations with the Nigerian government. While he was there, he dedicated Nigeria for the preaching of the gospel.[6]: 85 Ambrose Chukwuo, a Nigerian college student studying in California, read Mormonism and the Negro and sent a letter to a Nigerian newspaper condemning the LDS Church's teachings on blacks. The newspaper published Chukwuo's letter and the letters of other students with similar opinions. The Nigerian government did not give the LDS Church a permit to proselyte and church presidentDavid O. McKay postponed proselyting plans.[6]: 85–87 [7]: 24 In 1965, Williams obtained a visa to go to Nigeria and began preparing to set up a mission in Nigeria. Since black Nigerians couldn't hold the priesthood, Williams was going to baptize those who were ready and set up auxiliary organizations that could function without the priesthood.[6]: 91 Black Nigerians would be allowed to pass, but not bless the sacrament.[7]: 23 However, several members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles expressed concern about teaching black people and called for the program to be terminated. After a unanimous vote, they decided to end the program. They contacted Williams and told him to leave Nigeria immediately.[6]: 93 The Biafran war in 1967 further postponed church work there.[6]: 94
With the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood, plans were again begun to start the church in Nigeria. Ted Cannon and his wife, Janath, along with Rendell N. Mabey and his wife, Rachel, were sent to Nigeria, arriving in November 1978, five months after the revelation. They based their operations out of Enugu, and the first branch they organized was with Anthony Obinna as president. Most of the earliest converts they baptized were in various villages throughout south-eastern Nigeria and had been meeting and seeking church membership for years, if not decades.[8]
At first Nigeria was administered by the church's International Mission. In 1983 a Nigerian, mission was organized, which originally also covered Ghana.
In 1988, the church's first stake in Nigeria was organized in Aba, with David W. Eka as president. In 1993, the second stake in Nigeria was organized in Benin City.
In 1998, Gordon B. Hinckley became the first church president to visit Nigeria, presiding at a large meeting in Port Harcourt. In 2000, Hinckley announced plans to build a temple in Aba. The temple was dedicated by Hinckley in 2005. In 2009, the temple was closed as foreign temple worker missionaries were withdrawn due to violence in the area. The temple was reopened in 2010 with a Nigerian as temple president and all temple workers being Nigerian.
By 2018, there were over 50 stakes in Nigeria. In that year church president Russell M. Nelson announced plans to build a temple in Lagos, Nigeria. The first stake in Lagos had been organized in 1995, and in 2015 it had gone from 3 to 5 stakes. The LDS Church was still most heavily concentrated in south-east Nigeria, with Akwa Ibom State alone having 12 stakes.
Much of northern Nigeria had no LDS Church presence and many areas in mid-Nigeria had only begun to have significant organizational presence of the church in the mid-2010s.
By mid-2019 there were 58 stakes in Nigeria, with the 58th stake being the 3rd based in the capital city of Abuja. The Abuja stakes were far and away the most northern in Nigeria, with the district in Jos containing the only other units of the church even close to that far north. The growth had in some places been very fast, with Yorubaland (not including heavily Yoruba Lagos State) having gone from no stakes in 2013 to 5 by 2019.
Other states that saw significant growth were Delta State, that went from a few branches in a district outside the state in 2015 to three districts and a stake in 2019. Benue State in the more central area of the country had one branch in 2015, and did not get a district until 2017. By 2019 the state had 3 districts.
Stakes and districts
Stake/District
Organized
Mission
Aba Nigeria North Stake
15 May 1988
Nigeria Aba
Aba Nigeria Ogbor Hill Stake
3 Dec 2006
Nigeria Aba
Aba Nigeria Osisioma Stake
15 May 2022
Nigeria Aba
Aba Nigeria South Stake
6 Dec 2015
Nigeria Aba
Aba Nigeria Umuola Stake
10 Jun 2018
Nigeria Aba
Abak Nigeria Stake
6 Jun 2010
Nigeria Aba
Abakaliki Nigeria Stake
14 Sep 2014
Nigeria Enugu
Abeokuta Nigeria Ibara Stake
2 Sep 2018
Nigeria Ibadan
Abeokuta Nigeria Stake
1 Aug 1993
Nigeria Ibadan
Abuja Nigeria Kubwa Stake
29 May 2016
Nigeria Abuja
Abuja Nigeria Lugbe Stake
12 Oct 1997
Nigeria Abuja
Abuja Nigeria Wuse Stake
23 Jun 2019
Nigeria Abuja
Agbor Nigeria District
24 Nov 2013
Nigeria Owerri
Akamkpa Nigeria Stake
29 Nov 1998
Nigeria Calabar
Akure Nigeria Stake
18 Mar 2018
Nigeria Ibadan
Asaba Nigeria Stake
19 Mar 2006
Nigeria Owerri
Awka Nigeria Stake
24 Nov 2019
Nigeria Owerri
Azikoro Nigeria District
3 Nov 2024
Nigeria Port Harcourt North
Benin City Nigeria Ihogbe Stake
24 Oct 1993
Nigeria Benin City
Benin City Nigeria Ikpokpan Stake
2 Mar 1997
Nigeria Benin City
Benin City Nigeria New Benin Stake
2 Sep 2007
Nigeria Benin City
Benin City Nigeria Oregbeni Stake
20 Sep 2015
Nigeria Benin City
Benin City Nigeria Siluko Stake
11 Mar 2012
Nigeria Benin City
Benin City Nigeria Sokponba Stake
18 Feb 2018
Nigeria Benin City
Benin City Nigeria Ugbowo Stake
11 Mar 2012
Nigeria Benin City
Benin City Nigeria Uzebu Stake
18 Feb 2018
Nigeria Benin City
Bori Nigeria District
18 Aug 2019
Nigeria Port Harcourt
Calabar Nigeria Etta Agbor
18 Aug 2024
Nigeria Calabar
Calabar Nigeria Stake
1 Dec 2002
Nigeria Calabar
Calabar Nigeria Tinapa Stake
3 Dec 2017
Nigeria Calabar
Calabar Nigeria South Stake
17 May 2015
Nigeria Calabar
Eket Nigeria Stake
14 Jul 1996
Nigeria Uyo
Ekete Nigeria Stake
29 Nov 2020
Nigeria Benin City
Ekpoma Nigeria Stake
6 Jun 2010
Nigeria Benin City
Enugu Nigeria Stake
25 Sep 1988
Nigeria Enugu
Etinan Nigeria Stake
22 Sep 1996
Nigeria Uyo
Etinan Nigeria North Stake
6 Mar 2016
Nigeria Uyo
Gboko Nigeria District
20 Jan 2019
Nigeria Enugu
Ibadan Nigeria Stake
3 Aug 1991
Nigeria Ibadan
Ibadan Nigeria North Stake
24 Mar 2019
Nigeria Ibadan
Ibesikpo Nigeria Stake
29 Aug 2010
Nigeria Uyo
Ifo Nigeria District
12 May 2024
Nigeria Ibadan
Ijebu-Ode Nigeria Stake
20 Jun 1993
Nigeria Ibadan
Ikot Akpaden Nigeria Stake
27 Jun 1999
Nigeria Port Harcourt
Ikot Akpatek Nigeria Stake
5 Jun 2016
Nigeria Port Harcourt
Ikot Ekpene Nigeria Stake
3 May 2009
Nigeria Aba
Ile-Ife Nigeria Stake
17 Oct 1999
Nigeria Ibadan
Ilorin Nigeria District
15 Jul 2018
Nigeria Ibadan
Iyahe Nigeria District
10 Nov 2024
Nigeria Enugu
Jos Nigeria Stake
14 Feb 1993
Nigeria Abuja
Lagos Nigeria Agege Stake
20 Feb 2005
Nigeria Lagos
Lagos Nigeria Egbeda Stake
22 Nov 2015
Nigeria Lagos
Lagos Nigeria Festac Stake
22 Nov 2015
Nigeria Lagos
Lagos Nigeria Ikeja Stake
23 Feb 1997
Nigeria Lagos
Lagos Nigeria Ikorodu Stake
19 Jun 2022
Nigeria Lagos
Lagos Nigeria Ikotun Stake
26 Jun 2022
Nigeria Lagos
Lagos Nigeria Ojodu Stake
24 Jun 2018
Nigeria Lagos
Lagos Nigeria Yaba Stake
15 May 2011
Nigeria Lagos
Lekki Nigeria Stake
20 Oct 2024
Nigeria Lagos
Makurdi Nigeria District
3 Sep 2017
Nigeria Enugu
Mbaise Nigeria Stake
22 Aug 2010
Nigeria Owerri
Nsit Ubium Nigeria Stake
16 Jul 2023
Nigeria Uyo
Nsukka Nigeria District
5 Jun 2016
Nigeria Enugu
Nsukwa Nigeria District
31 Mar 2019
Nigeria Owerri
Ogwashi Nigeria District
24 Nov 2013
Nigeria Owerri
Ohafia Nigeria Stake
18 May 2014
Nigeria Enugu
Okpuala Ngwa Nigeria Stake
23 Oct 2005
Nigeria Aba
Okrika Nigeria District
6 Dec 2009
Nigeria Port Harcourt
Onna Nigeria Stake
17 Mar 2024
Nigeria Uyo
Ondo Nigeria Stake
26 Jul 2015
Nigeria Ibadan
Onitsha Nigeria Stake
23 Sep 1988
Nigeria Owerri
Oron Nigeria District
8 Mar 2009
Nigeria Uyo
Otukpo Nigeria District
16 Jul 2017
Nigeria Enugu
Owerri Nigeria North Stake
27 Jan 2019
Nigeria Owerri
Owerri Nigeria Stake
14 Jun 1998
Nigeria Owerri
Port Harcourt Nigeria Stake
25 Nov 1990
Nigeria Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt Nigeria Central Stake
5 Sep 2021
Nigeria Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt Nigeria Choba Stake
8 Jul 2018
Nigeria Port Harcourt North
Port Harcourt Nigeria East Stake
13 Nov 2011
Nigeria Port Harcourt North
Port Harcourt Nigeria Emouha Stake
15 Sep 2024
Nigeria Port Harcourt North
Port Harcourt Nigeria North Stake
27 Nov 2016
Nigeria Port Harcourt North
Port Harcourt Nigeria South Stake
27 Nov 2016
Nigeria Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt Nigeria West Stake
6 Jul 2003
Nigeria Port Harcourt North
Ugep Nigeria District
10 Apr 2022
Nigeria Calabar
Ukat Aran Nigeria Stake
19 Sep 1999
Nigeria Uyo
Umuahia Nigeria Stake
19 Nov 1995
Nigeria Owerri
Umuahia Nigeria South Stake
12 May 2019
Nigeria Owerri
Uyo Nigeria Central Stake
20 Aug 2023
Nigeria Uyo
Uyo Nigeria Ibiono Stake
23 Nov 2008
Nigeria Uyo
Uyo Nigeria Stake
9 Dec 2001
Nigeria Uyo
Warri Nigeria Stake
18 May 1999
Nigeria Benin City
Yenagoa Nigeria Stake
29 Dec 2013
Nigeria Port Harcourt North
Missions
The LDS Church announced creation of new Owerri mission in Nigeria in 2016. The Nigeria Aba and Nigeria Abuja missions were created in July 2023 bringing the total number of missions in Nigeria to nine. [9]
Aba, Abia, Nigeria 2 April 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley 23 February 2002 by H. Bruce Stucki 7 August 2005 by Gordon B. Hinckley 11,500 sq ft (1,070 m2) on a 6.3-acre (2.5 ha) site Classic modern, single-spire design - designed by Adeniyi Coker Consultants Limited
