Organization of the Dominicans In the beginning Yaba was simply a house of the Province with Fr. Dempsey as superior. When the Sokoto Prefecture was established the first priests there were simply assigned to Msgr. Lawton. But with more priests going to the North it was necessary to organize them in relation to the Order, Msgr. Lawton was like a bishop, answerable only to the Pope. On 23 September 1957 Fr. Dempsey was made Vicar of the Province for all the Dominicans in Nigeria.
Due to bad roads and difficulties of communication in those days, on 18 October 1959 Fr. Nadeau was appointed Vicar for the North leaving Fr. Dempsey to be responsible for the South. Four years later the North and the South were reunited as one Vicariate under Fr. Nadeau who continued in the office of Vicar Provincial until he became rector of the major seminary in Ibadan on 27 August 1965. Fr. Dempsey took over as Vicar Provincial the same year and moved to the North. Early that same year February 1965 the Order of Preachers was officially incorporated in Nigeria.
Fr. Dempsey was made Bishop on 15 August 1967 and two days later Fr. Klapperich was appointed pro-Vicar Provincial. The Dominicans in Nigeria then decided to establish a formal vicariate, modeled after the organization of a province, but still dependent on the Province of St. Albert the Great for confirmation of elections and statutes. A preliminary meeting of all the priests present in the vicariate was first held in March 1968. Then the first vicariate chapter was held in three sessions between December 1968 and September 1969. At the second session of this first chapter Fr. Bert Ebben was elected Vicar Provincial and the Provincial confirmed the election. The vicariate chapter was subsequently held annually with all the brethren in solemn vows participating. During the fifth chapter in 1973 Fr. Ebben was reelected and the chapter was from, then to become a biennial event. Fr. Ebben resigned before the sixth chapter held in 1975 and Fr. Windbacher was elected Vicar Provincial. He held this office until Fr. Callistus Theme succeeded him in 1983.
A meeting of all the Dominicans of the vicariate was held in January 1985 in Ibadan to settle the question of elevation to a Vice Province. On first May 1985 the vicariate of Nigeria was raised to the level of a Vice Province with Callistus Iheme continuing as the first Vice Provincial. Fr. Gilbert Thesing succeeded him as Vice Provincial in 1989. The next chapter in 1993 petitioned the Master of the Order for the elevation of the Vice Province to the level of a Province. This was granted and on the first of May 1993 Africa saw its first Dominican province, with Fr. Chris Angelo Otuibe as its first Provincial. In July 1997 Fr. Thomas McDermott was elected the second Provincial.
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