The task of registering all Bishops and Clergy of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) was assigned to the Bishop Theologian, Rt. Rev. Prof. Dapo F. Asaju, by the Archbishop, Primate and Metropolitan of the Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Dr. Nicholas Okoh, LLD. DD, Fss. The House of Bishops and the General Synod were duly briefed about this exercise.
The rationale for the exercise is the authentic identification of Bishops and Clergy of the Church of Nigeria taking note of their relevant records and for quality control. In secular organizations such as civil, military, and educational institutions, the use of identification numbers for staff or students is common.
The Bishop/Clergy identification number will capture codes for their Province, Diocese, Theological College, place and year of ordination,present status, and personal number.
For an example, a priest of Kafanchan Diocese in the Province of Abuja ; who trained at St. Paul's Seminary Awka and was ordained in 1980 would have the following entry- Province of Abuja (13); Diocese of Kafanchan (02); St. Paul's Awka (2); Ordination year (80); Personal number (15). Registration Number will be (13-02-2-80-15).
This will reflect in the Identification card and in the records of our Church.
The office of the Bishop Theologian was created by the House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria in October 2009, when the Rt. Rev. Prof. Dapo Folorunsho Asaju (Dip. Th. (Vining), B.A. (Hons), M. A., PhD. (Ilorin), in Christian Theology and Professor of Theology, was duly elected . He was consecrated on 10th January 2010. The inspiration for this office derived from the Roman Catholic Church’s operating office of ‘Cardinal Theologian’ under the Pope’s office in the Vatican.
The need to have a Bishop Theologian to supervise all theology related institutions and policies became more germane in view of current crisis and controversies in the Anglican communion arising substantially from abuse of theology to perpetrate revisionism, heresies, false doctrines and various shades of ecclesiastical evil.
The duties and Jurisdiction of the Bishop Theologian are the following: