The Oron Nigeria District was recently organized in the Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. A branch was created in Oron sometime between 2003 and 2006 and as far as I know was the only branch in the area. It is likely that the branch was divided right before or as the district was formed. Additional branches from neighboring stakes might be included in the new district. The Oron Nigeria District becomes the 16th district in Nigeria, which also has 16 stakes as well. At the end of 2008 the 15th district in the country was created 50 some miles away in Ibiono.
Although there are some 88,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Nigeria today in 260 congregations, only about 56% of the population lives in a state in the country where there is at least one congregation. However the Church has grown dramatically in the southeastern, highly Christian portion of the Church. Many of the areas the Church has not established itself in Nigeria yet are predominately Muslim and in the north. The Church established two missions in these regions in Jos and Ilorin in the early 1990s which functioned for only a year or two and were discontinued or relocated due to Christian-Muslim violence in the area. The Church still has members and functions in these areas, but we have not seen as strong growth there.
The new Oron Nigeria District contains three branches all located in the state of Akwa Ibom. They are the Oron Branch (created 18 April 2004), the Okobo Branch (created 11 April 2004), and the Atiabang Branch (created on the same day as the district, 8 March 2009).
ReplyDeleteThanks Rick for the info.
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