History (Cont'd)

In 1894, Herbert Tugwell was consecrated Bishop of West Equatorial Africa and he was able to talk James Johnson into accepting what he had always rejected as "Half-bishop". Meanwhile the spate of aggressive evangelical works in the area had further necessitated a further sub-division into two of what used to be known as the "Diocese of Western Equatorial Africa.

On 10th October 1919, the Nigerian country, West and North of the Niger were cut-off from the Diocese of Equatorial West Africa to form THE DIOCESE OF LAGOS. Through the initiative of Bishop Herbert Tugwell, F. Melville Jones, an energetic European Missionary Educationist and Principal of St. Andrew's College, Oyo was consecrated as the first Bishop

The remaining part - East of the country, was carved out and named DIOCESE ON THE NIGER. Its formal inauguration took place on 5th March 1920 with the Rt. Rev. Bertram Lasbery as her first Bishop. Bishop Lasbery did not however, assume duty as Bishop of the Diocese on the Niger until the year 1922.

Back to Lagos, The Rt. Rev. F. Melville Jones served as Bishop for twenty-one years (1919-1940) before bowing out on retirement in 1940, The Rt. Rev. Leslie Gordon Vining (who was then Assistant Bishop of the Diocese on the Niger) became the second Bishop of Lagos. On 17th April 1951 at the inauguration of the Province of West Africa, Leslie Vining was elected and presented as the first Archbishop of the new Province. Under him, Lagos Diocese was divided into four Dioceses (Niger Delta, Ibadan, Kaduna and Ondo inaugurated in 1952). Vining died at sea on March 1955 and was succeeded by The Rt. Rev. Adelakun Howells. Then following in succession, the episcopacy of Seth Irunsewe Kale from 1963 to 1974; Festus Oluwole Segun from January 1975 to 1985 and the visionary Bishop Most Revd. Dr. Joseph Abiodun Adetiloye from 1985 to 1999.

From 2000 to date the Diocese of Lagos has flourished under the able leadership of His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Ephraim Adebola Ademowo, a calculated, amiable and sagacious Bishop of note.

With seven (7) Bishops between 1919 and 2008, and its phenomenal expansion by leaps and bounds within the same period, the Diocese of Lagos has indeed come of age. Having given birth to numerous other Dioceses and having produced several Bishops who are holding their own in different parts of the Church of Nigeria, Lagos Diocese can look back today with a deep sense of fulfillment and gratitude to the Almighty God.