Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana
Oct. 27, 2024
Mr Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has urged anti-corruption agencies in the country to prosecute churches converting charity funds to commercial purposes, describing such act as criminal.
He also urged church members to go against the perpetrators of such acts of financial misappropriation.
Falana stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of 2024 Peace Summit organised by the Justice Development Peace Centre (JDPC) of the Lagos archdiocese on Saturday.
The summit with the theme, “Cultivating a Culture of Peace in Nigeria: A Call to Action,” was aimed at reawakening national interest in the people and peaceful coexistence.
He said that it was abysmal for faith bodies to deviate from their core role of service to the people to business ventures under the cover of faith.
“Such funds should be tailored to charity works to help people make good living and meet social challenges.
“Remember those funds are not taxed, therefore, it is a criminal act for faith leaders to subject such funds to commercial venture.
“Members of such faith and the authorities in charge of financial misappropriation should go against such perpetrators and bring them to book,” Falana said.
The senior lawyer decried especially the situation whereby church leaders would raise money to build schools and charge high fees which the children of the poor could not afford.
He said the subsisting culture in which the children of the faithful who contributed to the building of the institutions were unable to pay their tuitions was unacceptable.
JDPC is the social arm of the Catholic Church is focused on the promotion of a sustainable and integral human development through a holistic empowerment approach. (NAN)
