Nigeria Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Nigeria, go to the Religious Records page.

Church records
Research use: A primary source of information.

Record type: Baptisms, marriages, and burials for British and native Nigerians.

Time period: 1845 to present.

Contents: Varies, but generally as follows: Baptisms – name, birth date, place and date of baptism, parents names. Marriages – names of bride and groom, date and place of marriage. Burials – names of deceased, residence, age, place of death, names of family members or relatives. Sometimes information regarding divorces and confirmations is provided.

Location: National Archives, and Diocese Archives.

Population coverage:80% of the British,30% of the Nigerians.

Reliability: Good.

Religion Statistics

 * According to a 2001 report from The World Factbook by CIA, about 50% of Nigeria's population is Muslim, 40% are Christians and 10% adhere to local religions. But in some recent report, the Christian population is now sightly larger than the Muslim population. An 18 December 2012 report on religion and public life by the Pew Research Center stated that in 2010, 49.3 percent of Nigeria's population was Christian, 48.8 percent was Muslim, and 1.9 percent were followers of indigenous and other religions, or unaffiliated.
 * Among Christians, the Pew Research survey found that 74% were Protestant, 25% were Catholic, and 1% belonged to other Christian denominations, including a small Orthodox Christian community.
 * In terms of Nigeria's major ethnic groups, the Hausa ethnic group (predominant in the north) was found to be 95% Muslim and 5% Christian, the Yoruba tribe (predominant in the west) was 55% Muslim, 35% Christian and 10% adherents of other religions, while the Igbos (predominant in the east) and the Ijaw (south) were 98% Christian, with 2% practising traditional religions. The middle belt of Nigeria contains the largest number of minority ethnic groups in Nigeria, who were found to be mostly Christians and members of traditional religions, with a small proportion of Muslims.
 * Further, Nigeria has become an African hub for the Grail Movement and the Hare Krishnas, and the largest temple of the Eckankar religion is in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with a total capacity of 10,000.
 * The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) announced creation of new Owerri mission in Nigeria in 2016. Wikipedia: Nigeria, Religion

Christian Churches
Leading Protestant churches in the country include the Church of Nigeria of the Anglican Communion, the Assemblies of God Church, the Nigerian Baptist Convention and The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations Since the 1990s, there has been significant growth in many other churches, particularly the evangelical Protestant ones. These include the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Winners' Chapel, Christ Apostolic Church (the first Aladura Movement in Nigeria), Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Evangelical Church of West Africa, Mountain of Fire and Miracles, Christ Embassy and The Synagogue Church Of All Nations. In addition, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Aladura Church, the Seventh-day Adventist and various indigenous churches have also experienced growth. The Yoruba area contains a large Anglican population, while Igboland is predominantly Roman Catholic and the Edo area is composed predominantly of members of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God. Wikipedia: Nigeria, Religion

Anglican Church
The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptized membership (but not by attendance), after the Church of England. It gives its current membership as "over 18 million", out of a total Nigerian population of 140 million. Other statistics reveal that the Church of Nigeria has 2 million active attendees on a Sunday. Wikipedia: Church of Nigeria
 * Address list for local churches

Catholic Church of Nigeria

 * List of Catholic Dioceses in Nigeria, with website links