Shortly after Abuja became the Capital City of Nigeria, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) expressed its desire to establish an ecclesiastical circumscription in the new civil Federal Capital Territory in late 1979. The CBCN’s wish received the approval of the Apostolic See. Consequently, the Independent Mission of Abuja was established on November 6, 1981, and Dominic Cardinal Ekandem, then Bishop of Ikot Ekpene Diocese, was appointed as its Ecclesiastical Superior (cf Acta Apostolicae Sedis ASS 70 (1982) 64).