Olubunmi Akinlade

Olubunmi Akinlade is an Anglican bishop in Nigeria: he is the current Bishop of Ife. Olubunmi Adeyinka Akinlade was born on July 16, 1967, in Ibadan as the fourth and last child of the Rev. Canon Emmanuel Adeleke and Mrs. Elizabeth Adunola Akinlade, both of blessed memories. He hails from Osogbo town in Olorunda Local Government area of Osun State. His great grandfather released a portion of his land to the missionaries to settle in when they arrived Osogbo in 1900. The church established on the land is today the Cathedral of Osun Diocese (Anglican Communion).

Education He started his primary education at the Staff School, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State. He relocated with his Father to Lagos in 1973 and continued his education at Ireti Primary School, Ikoyi Lagos from 1973 to 1977. In 1977, he gained admission to Government College, Ibadan, where he obtained his WAEC in 1983. He was admitted to the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, in 1984 to study computer science, and in 1988 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Sciences. and enthroned in March 2016.

Rt. Rev. Olubunmi A. Akinlade’s major focus has been on rural evangelism since out of the 150 churches in the diocese over a hundred are in rural areas. He is focused on strengthening existing churches. With help from friends outside the diocese, over 17 dilapidated churches have been rebuilt. Boreholes are also drilled in various communities that were in dire need of them. The Diocesan Camp has also been given a major facelift with new hostels constructed to provide additional accommodation.

Since inception as the Diocesan Bishop of Ife, Rt. Rev. Olubunmi Akinlade has delivered several sermons and seminars.

Service within the Church of Nigeria (CON) Rt. Rev. Olubunmi A. Akinlade became actively involved with CON activities barely 4 years into his ministry when the church was to host the All African Bishops Conference at Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral Lagos. He was nominated into the secretariat Committee and charged with providing ICT support for the conference. He advocated for the provision of internet facility (Cyber Cafe) for delegates who require internet access. Considering the number of delegates (over 300) and the hassle of manual registration, he personally commissioned a colleague to develop an application to be deployed for the registration of delegates. The program gathered all relevant information about a delegate and generated registration tags. Needless to say, this application has been extensively utilized during synods in the diocese of Lagos over the years and continues to be used now. The application was also used for the Standing Committee Meetings that took place in the Diocese of Ife. It has also been utilized for the All Clergy Conference.

Rt. Rev. Olubunmi A. Akinlade has been a member of the DIVCCON planning committee since its inception, assisting Bishop Odubogun. He was initially in charge of registration and provided oversight for the entire secretariat committee. He now participates on the steering committee as a bishop and works closely with Archbishop Adeleye (Baba DIVCCON).

Rt. Rev. Olubunmi A. Akinlade can best be described as an ‘ICT Guru.’ He is responsible for training priests on ICT at the annual Senior Clergy Training Course in Agbara-Otor, since its inception. In 2020, he was invited by the Primate to oversee the computerization of the accounts of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Based on his expertise as a parish priest and bishop using church administration software, he vetted the proposal of the company that had already been shortlisted by the then treasurer and provided them with further insight into what they needed to do to customize their application to meet the demands of CON. The application has been operating for over a year, and he continues to provide consulting services for this.

The work continues.