SIM workers are engaged with ECWA colleagues in evangelism and church planting, church leadership development, urban and rural ministries, publication of resources, children's and youth ministries, theological education, medical ministries, technical consultancy, and various roles of mission care and administration. See www.sim-nigeria.org.

ECWA churches are growing rapidly throughout Nigeria, especially in the central regions, where some churches have experienced as much as 400% growth in the last several years. Even churches in the strong Islamic centers are growing steadily. Currently more than 5,000 congregations can be counted with an estimated attendance of over three million.

ECWA now has more than five million worshipers all together. The church is engaged in theological education, medical ministries, radio, publications for outreach and discipleship, rural development, urban ministries, and cross-cultural missions. More than 1,600 missionaries from ECWA churches serve with the Evangelical Missionary Society (EMS), the missionary arm of ECWA, among unreached people in Nigeria and other countries.

To supplement government publishing and retailing requirements in 1974, SIM literature ministry, including about 30 bookstores and the production of Today's Challenge magazine, was incorporated into an indigenous organization called ECWA Productions Limited. On November 19, 1976, ECWA accepted responsibility for all remaining SIM ministries.

ECWA runs 8 seminaries or Bible colleges and 15 theological training institutes. Need exists for Scripture translation into various local languages and for educated pastors and church leaders who can meet the spiritual needs of an increasingly educated church body.

The big need of the church is for well-trained leaders who teach sound biblical principles that can be correctly applied to the believer’s life. The church needs to be fully discipled and mobilized to reach the millions of people in Nigeria who don't know Jesus. Many indigenous unreached groups still need someone to take the gospel to them.

The first Protestant missionaries to Nigeria were Wesleyan Methodists. They began work in the southwest among the Yoruba in 1842. The Methodist Church now has 160,000 adherents. Other Protestant groups followed: Church Missionary Society (evangelical Anglican), United Free Church of Scotland, Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, and Southern Baptists (USA)

Over the last 100 years, several other missions have entered Nigeria: Qua Iboe Mission (Irish Presbyterian), Sudan United Mission, Synodical Conference of Lutheran Churches (now Evangelical Church of Nigeria), Salvation Army, Assemblies of God, and the Mennonite Church of North America.

SIM began work in Nigeria in 1893 when Walter Gowans, Thomas Kent, and Roland Bingham attempted to take the gospel inland. Gowans and Kent died within the first year; Bingham returned to Canada. In 1900, Bingham made a second journey to Nigeria, but this second venture failed due to sickness. In 1901, Bingham returned to Nigeria for a third time and began work among the Nupe tribe. By 1902 the first station was opened.

Since then SIM has pioneered in 30 language areas. Through medical ministries, much of the Islamic north has opened to the gospel. In 1954, the SIM-related churches came together to form an indigenous body known as the Evangelical Churches of West Africa (ECWA). In the following years, mission stations, Bible Schools, academic schools, and medical programs transferred to ECWA leadership.

To supplement government publishing and retailing requirements in 1974, SIM literature ministry, including about 30 bookstores and the production of Today's Challenge magazine, was incorporated into an indigenous organization called ECWA Productions Limited. On November 19, 1976, ECWA accepted responsibility for all remaining SIM ministries.

All SIM missionaries in Nigeria entered a new role of partnership with ECWA. SIM missionaries help to train Nigerian leadership as well as aid in the task of reaching Nigerians with the gospel. A Memorandum of Understanding signed in February, 1998 gives clarity and definition to the dynamic partnership between ECWA and SIM.

• A hot, humid coastal belt of mangrove swamp, up to 96 km (60 mi) wide
  
• An 80 to 161 km (50 to 100 mi) wide belt of tropical rain forest and oil palm bush
  
• A higher, drier central plateau of open woodland and savanna
  
• Semi-desert to the extreme north, which is dry and hot.

The Niger and Benue rivers enter from the west and east, merge in the middle of the country, and flow through the south into the ocean.

Nigeria has two distinct climatic zones. Along the coast the equatorial maritime air mass influences the climate, which is characterized by high humidity and heavy rainfall. To the north the tropical continental air mass brings dry, dusty winds (harmattan) from the Sahara. The temperature in the north varies considerably with the season, as does rainfall, which is far less than in the south.

Language: About 470 languages are spoken in Nigeria, with English being the official language.

Religion: The constitution guarantees religious freedom. However, rising hostility between Muslims and Christians create hostility, and in the Muslim North strong resistance is given to the gospel.

Economy: Though the country is rich in natural resources, most Nigerians live in economic distress. back

In the south, the development of powerful empires at Ife, Oyo, and Bénin took place. Of these, the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo became the most dominant, retaining its power until the end of the nineteenth century. From the 1500s onward, the southeast became populated by the Ibo, an agricultural people who formed a loose federation but had no centralized government.

Portuguese traders who plied the coasts trading for peppers and later for slaves made initial contact with Nigeria in the fifteenth century. The British replaced the Portuguese at a time when the slave trade had grown to tremendous proportions, resulting in military conflict, political instability, and economic turmoil. The British brought an end to the slave trade in 1807 and focused instead on exploiting Nigeria's natural resources. In 1914, Nigeria was declared a British Colony.

The return of Nigerian soldiers from service with the British Army in World War II increased demands for independence, which was granted October 1, 1960. The British had developed a high standard of civil service and a large educated population. The Nigerian press had the most freedom of any sub-Saharan African country. In subsequent years, however, a succession of coups occurred, accompanied by political turmoil, government corruption, and ethnic turbulence. Nigeria has had three constitutions since independence. From 1966-1979, the country was under military rule and no constitution was in force. Later the constitution was again suspended, and a Federal Military Government (The Defense Council), headed by President Ibrahim Babangida, gained control in 1986.

An AFRC-amended constitution was signed into law in May 1989, leaving the "contentious issue of Sharia law" applying only to personal issues and to willing Muslims.

A transitional program was instituted, with a move to full civilian rule planned for 1993. As part of the transitional program, a transitional council with new members was set up to replace the Council of Ministries. The chairman of the Transitional Council was designated "Head of Government" and responsible to the Defense Council. The National Assembly, comprising a 91-member Senate and a 593-member House of Representatives, was dissolved by the new head of state, General Sani Abacha, on November 1993. He took power and imprisoned the apparent election winner.

In December 1994 the Constitutional Conference voted that the military should leave office on a date determined by the regime, but the political impasse continued until the death of General Abacha in July, 1998. His successor, General Abdulsalaam Bubaker declared that turn over to civilian rule would take place May 28, 1999. General Olusequn Obasanjo was Nigeria’s first civilian president in fifteen years.