According to a report by Mfonobong Nsehe for Forbes, Nigerian pastors despite prevailing economic condition, spent a whopping $225 million in 2011 acquiring private jets.
Nigerian pastor and private jet owner David Oyedepo. (Image via Wikipedia)
A few wealthy Nigerians spent at least $225 million acquiring
private jets between March 2010 and March 2011, according to a report by
Forbes.
The report which quoted another report published by the Punch
Newspaper, revealed that other Nigerian billionaires like Aliko Dangote
and Mike Adenuga also acquired private jets for themselves.
While Dangote acquired a US$45 million Bombardier jet as a gift to
himself on his 53rd birthday, Mike Adenuga purchased a Bombardier Global
Express XRS. Both Dangote and Adenuga own at least two private planes
each, the report noted.
Apart from wealthy business tycoons, Nigerian clergymen and
spiritual leaders are also joining the very elite league of jet owners.
Also, David Oyedepo,
a Nigerian cleric generally believed to be Africa’s wealthiest gospel
preacher, acquired a Gulfstream V jet for US$30 million in March 2011.
Oyedepo, who presides over the Winners Chapel, one of Africa’s largest churches, now owns a private collection of four aircraft.
In addition to that, he previously owned two Gulfstream planes and a
Bombardier Challenger Aircraft. He is also reportedly creating a
private hanger to accommodate his flying toys.
Oyedepo is not the only Nigerian clergyman to own a jet. Pastor
Enoch Adeboye, the reverred overseer of Nigeria’s largest congregation,
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, is also a proud jet owner. In
March 2009, the great man of God spent $30 million on a Gulfstream jet
amidst widespread criticism. Pastor Sam Adeyemi, another cleric and
founder of the Daystar Christian center, a flourishing Pentecostal
congregation which repeatedly preaches financial prosperity, is also a
jet owner.
It’s not cheap to own a private jet. On average, it costs hundreds
of thousands of dollars annually to maintain a personal plane. The
majority of Nigerians frown at such flagrant displays of opulence,
particularly on the path of their clergymen, given that 60% of Nigerians
still live below the poverty line.
Paradoxically, the same people who complain about the extravagant
lifestyles of their spiritual leaders are the same ones who finance it.
Every Sunday, swarms of worshipers rush to the church to give away their
hard-earned money to the pastors’ coffers in the form of tithes,
offerings and special gifts with the deluded hope of multiplied
financial blessings in return. For many, this is but a pipe dream. Deep
down, the pastors smile; they’ve got just the perfect suckers.
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