Christianity in Nigeria
Christianity in Nigeria represents one of several religious traditions in the country, including Islam and Traditional African religions.
Christianity arrived to Nigeria in the 15th century through Augustinian and Capuchin friars from Portugal. By 2020, it accounted for an estimated 45% of the Nigerian population, two-thirds of which are Protestant. As such, it remains the second-largest religion in Nigeria, behind a 50–55% Muslim majority. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2011, Nigeria had the largest Christian population of any country in Africa, with more than 80 million people in Nigeria belonging to various denominations. Christianity is the majority religion in the southern and central regions of Nigeria. The 2024-2025 Afrobarometer found that the majority of Nigerian Christians were mostly non-denominational.
Denominations
The 1963 Nigerian census, the last that asked about religion, found that about 47.2% of the population was Muslim, 34.3% Christian, and 18.5% other.Figures in the 2020 edition of The World Christian Encyclopedia drew on figures assembled and updated as part of the World Christian Database ; these put those who identify as Christians on 46.3%, and Muslims on 46.2 and ‘ethnic religions’ on 7.2%. Statisticians estimate that there may be up to a hundred million Christians in Nigeria.
Statistics
Catholicism
The Catholic Church has seen an increase of followers in Nigeria. In 2020, there were an estimated 32 million baptised Catholics in Nigeria. The archdioceses of the Catholic Church in Nigeria are Abuja, Benin City, Calabar, Ibadan, Jos, Kaduna, Lagos, Onitsha, and Owerri.Cardinal Francis Arinze is a Catholic cardinal from Nigeria.
Anglican Church of Nigeria
The ecclesiastical provinces of the Church of Nigeria are Lagos, Ibadan, Ondo, Edo, The Niger, Niger Delta, Owerri, Abuja, Kaduna, and Jos. Its primate is Henry Ndukuba. The Church of Nigeria claimed about 18 million members in 2016, with an estimated 2 million members being active.The Apostolic Church Nigeria
is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in Nigeria, affiliated with the Apostolic Church. Its headquarters is in Lagos. It had 4.5 million members in 2016.Assemblies of God
The General Council of the Assemblies of God Nigeria has its origins in the Nigerian Church of Jesus Christ and a partnership with the Assemblies of God USA in 1934. The council was founded in 1964. It had 16,300 churches and 3.6 million members as of 2019.Church of Christ in Nigeria
The Church of Christ in Nations, formerly Church of Christ in Nigeria, is a Christian denomination in Nigeria. It was founded in 1904. Its headquarters is in Jos, Plateau State. It used to have the name of Ekklesiyar Kristi A Nigeria. It is estimated to have over 8,000,000 members.Evangelical Church Winning All
The Evangelical Church Winning All has about 6000 congregations and 6 million members. It was founded by SIM, a missions organization established in Nigeria in 1893.Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ
The Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ was formed in Nasarawa State on 8 July 1916. The church has approximately 1.5 million members.Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria
The Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria is a major Lutheran denomination in Nigeria, a member of the Lutheran World Federation. It was established as an independent church in 1913 from the Sudan United Mission, Danish Branch, known today as Mission Afrika. The LCCN now has an estimated 2,200,000 members in over 2,400 congregations nationwide.Methodist Church Nigeria
The Methodist Church Nigeria is one of the largest Methodist denominations in the world and one of the largest Christian churches in Nigeria, with around two million members in 2000 congregations. It has seen exponential growth since the turn of the millennium.Nigerian Baptist Convention
The Nigerian Baptist Convention had about 6.5 million baptized members in 2008. The Baptist Mission was started by Thomas Jefferson Bowen in 1850. It currently has thirty five conferences in different ecclesiastical in Nigeria. It has its headquarter in Dugbe, Ibadan, Oyo State.Presbyterian Church of Nigeria
The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has almost 4 million members in thousands of congregations mainly in Nigeria, but has regional Presbytery in Togo as well as in Benin. It was founded in the mid-1800s, by ministers of the Church of Scotland. It is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.Redeemed Christian Church of God
The Redeemed Christian Church of God is a Pentecostal mega church and denomination founded in Lagos, Nigeria. The General overseer is Enoch Adeboye, ordained in 1981. In 2008, it had 14,000 churches and 5 million members in Nigeria.QIC-United Evangelical Church
The QIC-United Evangelical Church is a Christian denomination in Nigeria. It has existed since 1887. It has more than 1,000 congregations and 2,000,000 members.The Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria as of 2016 has close to 250,000 members throughout Nigeria divided into three different unions.Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
also has a growing presence. On January 1, 2012, the church claimed more than 100,000 members in the country and had established 315 congregations.The church announced the creation of a new Owerri mission in Nigeria in 2016.
Other
In 1970, 87,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were present in Nigeria, which grew to more than 360,000 by 2014.The New Apostolic Church in Nigeria reported 300,000 members in 2016.
Aladura is a classification of churches that abide by a Christian religious denomination or trend inspired by activities of progressive church elements, J.B. Sadare, D.O. Odubanjo, I.O. Sanya and others in 1918. The denomination has over 3 million adherents worldwide. The Aladura movement started at Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria in 1918. This movement later metamorphosed to Living Faith Church Worldwide and to the Christ Apostolic Church. The Church of the Lord is an African Initiated Church founded by Josiah Olunowo Ositelu in 1925, and inaugurated in 1930 in Ogere Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria. Ositelu was born on 15 May 1900 at Ogere, ijebu-Remo, Ogun State in Nigeria.
Since the 1990s, there has been significant growth in many other churches, independently started in Africa by Africans, particularly the evangelical Protestant ones. These include the mostly charismatic and Pentecostal denominations such as Mountain of Fire and Miracles, Christ Embassy, Streams of Joy International, Celestial Church of Christ and Dominion City. These churches have further many millions of members and followers in Nigeria. Estimates of Pentecostals and Charismatics in the country reach up to 60 million.
National Church of Nigeria, Abuja
The National Church of Nigeria is a non-denominational church building of the Christian Association of Nigeria, the umbrella body of many of Nigeria's Christian denominations. The church is located in Abuja.Freedom of religion
Nigeria is number six on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. In 2022, the country was ranked number seven.Persecution
According to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, there were 52,250 Christian deaths recorded from July 2009 to April 2023. This figure includes:- 5,068 Christians killed in 2022.
- 1,041 Christians killed in the first 100 days of 2023.
- 30,250 Christian deaths from June 2015 to April 2023, attributed to radical Islamism under the leadership of President Buhari.
- 53,350 Christians killed since the Islamic uprising in July 2009, with 31,350 of those deaths occurring from June 2015 to May 2023.
In November 2025, US president Donald Trump, threatened with US military action in Nigeria over treatment of Christians.
In Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency aims to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. University of Johannesburg law professor Werner Nicolaas Nel has noted that this has resulted in the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. There has been a tendency of "mischaracterisation of the situation as civil conflict". The number of Nigerian Christians killed for their identification as Christians accounts for 70% of those being killed for their faith worldwide. The academic Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development published a paper in 2020 that noted that since 2015, over 12,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria. Christian human rights organisations, such as Global Christian Relief have provided higher figures, such as documenting in 2023 that 52,250 Christians were murdered for their faith in the previous fourteen years. In 2025, this garnered international attention with United States president Donald Trump vowing military action in Nigeria if the attacks against Christians did not subside; on Christmas Day 2025, the United States targeted ISIS cells in Nigeria.
Religious reorientation
African spirituality
Since the early 2000s, Nigeria has witnessed a growing trend of young people turning away from Christianity and embracing Indigenous African spirituality. This shift has been partly driven by disillusionment with perceived materialism in Christian churches and a renewed desire to reconnect with ancestral traditions. Traditional spirituality in Nigeria, especially among the Igbo people, emphasizes a close relationship with nature, ancestors, and local deities, often blending with Christian practices in everyday life. One notable case is Chidi Nwaohia, born in 1966 in southeastern Nigeria, who was raised as a devout Christian but gradually embraced his calling as a dibia after a series of personal experiences and prophetic revelations. Officially ordained in 1993, Nwaohia now leads spiritual rites that involve libations, ancestral offerings, and seasonal festivals. His story reflects a broader resurgence of African traditional religion among Nigerians who seek spiritual authenticity or alternative forms of religious expression.Despite facing stigma and marginalization, stemming largely from colonial missionary portrayals of Indigenous beliefs as "pagan", many converts continue to practice both Christianity and African spirituality simultaneously. Others, like former Catholic priest Echezona Obiagbaosogu, have formally renounced Christianity to fully embrace Indigenous religion, citing a lack of spiritual fulfillment in their former faith. Critics of mainstream Christianity in Nigeria point to the commercialization of the faith, exploitative practices by some clergy, and exclusionary policies, such as denying funerals to members over unpaid levies, as reasons for disaffection. In contrast, traditional religions often offer more inclusive rites and stress moral alignment with nature over institutional obligations.