{"id":441540,"date":"2011-06-15T09:21:21","date_gmt":"2011-06-15T09:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/15\/nigerias-pastors-as-rich-as-oil-barons\/"},"modified":"2011-06-15T09:21:21","modified_gmt":"2011-06-15T09:21:21","slug":"nigerias-pastors-as-rich-as-oil-barons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/15\/nigerias-pastors-as-rich-as-oil-barons\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria’s pastors ‘as rich as oil barons’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"BishopNigeria’s pastors run multi-million dollar businesses which rival that of oil tycoons, a Nigerian blogger who has researched the issue has told the BBC.<\/p>\n

Mfonobong Nsehe, who blogs for Forbes business magazine, says pastors own businesses from hotels to fast-food chains.<\/p>\n

“Preaching is big business. It’s almost as profitable as the oil business,” he said.<\/p>\n

The joint wealth of five pastors was at least $200m (\u00a3121m), he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Nsehe said the richest of them, Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith World Outreach Ministry, was worth about $150m.<\/p>\n

Bishop Oyedepo owned a publishing company, university, an elite private school, four jets and homes in London and the United States, according to Mr Nsehe.<\/p>\n

‘Private jets’<\/p>\n

The Nigerian blogger said Bishop Oyedepo was followed on the rich list by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of the Believers’ Loveworld Ministries. He was worth between $30 and $50m.<\/p>\n

“Oyakhilome’s diversified interests include newspapers, magazines, a local television station, a record label, satellite TV, hotels and extensive real estate,” Mr Nsehe said.<\/p>\n

He said three of the other richest pastors were:<\/p>\n

Temitope Joshua Matthew of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (worth between $10m and $15m); Matthew Ashimolowo of Kingsway International Christian Centre (worth between $6 million and $10 million) and Chris Okotie of the Household of God Church (worth between $3 million and $10 million).<\/p>\n

Mr Nsehe said representatives of all the clergymen, except Pastor Ashimolowo, confirmed ownership of the assets he had listed on his blog.<\/p>\n

“These pastors are flamboyant. You see them with private jets and expensive cars. This extravagance sends out the wrong message to their followers,” he told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.<\/p>\n

He said the pastors acquired their wealth from various sources, including their congregations.<\/p>\n

“We have Nigerians who are desperate, looking for solutions to their problems. They go to church for salvation, redemption and healing and pastors sometimes take advantage of them,” Mr Nsehe said.<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
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Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read this article:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria’s pastors run multi-million dollar businesses which rival that of oil tycoons, a Nigerian blogger who has researched the issue has told the BBC. Mfonobong Nsehe, who blogs for Forbes business magazine, says pastors own businesses from hotels to fast-food chains. “Preaching is big business. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":441541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-441540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\nNigeria's pastors 'as rich as oil barons' - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/15\/nigerias-pastors-as-rich-as-oil-barons\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nigeria's pastors 'as rich as oil barons' - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Nigeria's pastors run multi-million dollar businesses which rival that of oil tycoons, a Nigerian blogger who has researched the issue has told the BBC. 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