Nigeria

Abuja’s FCT Minister Nyesom Wike defended revoking land at Jabi Lake used by Family Worship Centre, citing non-development and security, and told the pastor she could “call God to come down.”

A Lagos church demolished during a land case, with shops built on the site two days later, has won a court order telling the local council to vacate the property and stop developing it.

Lagos authorities demolished a 48-year-old Celestial Church of Christ parish along with homes and shops in Otumara after seven days’ notice, calling the structures illegal, while residents said no compensation was offered.

New York pastor Joe Persaud, whose ministry runs microfinance projects in Haiti, Nigeria and India and recently helped rebuild a Haitian hospital, was set to headline a Christian leadership summit at the Jamaica Pegasus in New Kingston.

Nigeria’s Redemption City of God grew from a four-acre church camp in 1983 to a 2,000-hectare settlement with about 13 estates, schools, banks and its own 25-megawatt power station, proclaimed a city in 2021.

With oil revenue falling, Forbes Africa asked whether Nigeria should tax churches’ commercial activities, pointing to religious bodies’ share of GDP, wealthy pastors, and claims that some avoid land use charges while renting out apartments.

The roof of Reigners Bible Church in Uyo, Nigeria, caved in during a bishop’s ordination while building work was still going on, killing at least 60 people, with a state governor in the congregation.

A Lagos coroner found that a six-storey building at TB Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations, which collapsed killing 116 people, was put up without a permit and failed because of design and detailing errors.

Abuja officials demolished a school under construction at Living Faith Church in Lifecamp, destroying over 3,000 donated blocks, saying notices had been served since 2014, while the pastor insisted approvals were in place.