By Kede Aihie
Nigeria’s financial system has a blind spot, and it is growing inside the church.
Pentecostal ministries, often run as husband-and-wife enterprises under a General Overseer, operate revenue models that would trigger regulatory scrutiny in the United States or United Kingdom. Collections for offerings, special projects and “miracle ministries” are overwhelmingly cash-based. Records are sparse. Accountability is limited. Outside of established denominations such as Catholic, Anglican and Baptist, the larger Pentecostal networks function with a degree of financial opacity comparable to private conglomerates, yet they face almost none of the reporting obligations.
The scale is unknown but material. No official data exists on total church receipts in Nigeria, but the amounts are almost certainly in the millions of dollars annually. Transactions move through banks, but there is little visibility on inflows, outflows or ultimate use. This matters because these institutions are among the country’s largest aggregators of cash.
How have they avoided oversight? Two factors stand out. First, Nigeria’s broader financial system remains fragmented and difficult to track, which allows large cash economies to persist with minimal detection. Second, there is a layer of spiritual deference. Questioning church finances is often framed as questioning faith itself, which limits both public debate and regulatory appetite.
The policy implication is straightforward. Technology and reporting standards already used for other non-profits could be extended to religious institutions. Bank-level transaction data, digital giving platforms and basic disclosure requirements would not infringe on belief, but would bring transparency to money flows.
Nigeria cannot afford to keep a multi-million-dollar segment of its economy off the books. Until churches are brought into the same financial accountability framework applied to other large institutions, the government will continue to underestimate national income, and public trust in both faith and finance will remain strained.
By law, all churches must register as Incorporated Trustees under CAMA 2020. The CAC can suspend trustees for fraud, though CAN resisted and courts limited this power. Still, thousands of informal ministries operate due to weak enforcement, unemployment, no theological requirements, and demand for community. This fuels financial exploitation, noise pollution, and poor accountability among independent pastors.
