Daud Olatunji
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has warned religious leaders against diverting tithes, offerings, zakat and other funds entrusted to churches and mosques into their personal businesses.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, issued the warning on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking at the 2026 Second Council Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council.
Olukoyede described the diversion of religious funds for private business purposes as a criminal act, urging religious institutions to establish effective regulatory and financial compliance mechanisms to safeguard money contributed by their members.
He stressed that religious leaders had a responsibility to demonstrate integrity because their conduct could significantly influence the behaviour and values of their followers.
The EFCC chairman said religious leaders could legitimately engage in businesses or other vocations but must maintain a clear separation between their personal finances and funds belonging to their religious organisations.
“When money is paid to your organisation, don’t divert it to your business. That’s criminal,” Olukoyede said.
He added that religious leaders risked undermining the values they preached when they treated organisational funds as personal resources.
According to him, the distinction between institutional and personal finances must remain clear regardless of the source of the funds or the nature of the religious organisation.
“You are not supposed to mingle in. That’s nothing that says you can’t do any other vocation. You sell cars, you are a farmer and all of that.
“Don’t mix the money from the purse of your organisation with that of your own personal money. Don’t do that.”
Olukoyede further charged religious institutions to play a greater role in preventing corruption, noting that the EFCC could investigate and prosecute financial crimes, while faith communities could help shape the character and values that discourage such offences.
He said religious leaders should therefore lead by example and avoid conduct capable of weakening public confidence in religious institutions.
The EFCC boss also took aim at the practice of celebrating individuals whose sources of wealth are unclear, warning that worship centres could inadvertently legitimise proceeds of crime by honouring or celebrating unexplained wealth.
He cited a situation where a public official built a mosque whose value, he said, could exceed the person’s legitimate earnings for several centuries.
“A public servant says he has built a mosque that is worth more than his earnings in the next 500 years. And you go there to dedicate it. You are dedicating the proceeds of crime,” he said.
Olukoyede urged religious leaders to subject financial dealings within their institutions to proper controls and accountability, stressing that religious organisations should not become channels for concealing or legitimising illicit wealth.
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