Returning to Nigeria afterwards, Akinola was assigned to create an Anglican presence in the new capital Abuja which was about to be built. He holds it one of his greatest successes to have created out of nothing a vibrant Anglican community there. In 1989 he was ordained bishop of Abuja and in 1997 archbishop of Province III of the Church of Nigeria, consisting of the northern dioceses of Nigeria. On 22 February 2000, he was elected primate of the Church of Nigeria, the second biggest church in the Anglican Communion, then numbering 18 million members. In 2002, he became Archbishop of the Abuja Province, a position he held until 2010.