Barely a week after one Pastor Peter Godwin alleged that the Living Faith Church International, popularly known as Winners Chapel, sacked him and about 40 other pastors, another of his colleague has explained how pastors who were graduates got N38,000 as salaries.
The pastor noted that the gross salary was N53,000 but they were paid N38,000 as the rest was supposed to cover for pension and housing allowance.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that Winners Chapel founder, Bishop David Oyedepo addressed the dismissal during a sermon in his church on Thursday July 22, stating that the pastors were laid off because they were ”unfruitful” and the church has no patience for failure.
According to SaharaReporters, the victim, who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity, noted that the money deducted for pensions was not even remitted to their bank accounts until their sack and outrage went viral.
He said, “Oyedepo and his senior Pastors knew they would sack us before employing us. That was why they gave us employment on probation. Someone went online to post lies in support of the church that the recently sacked pastors were being paid N80,000 and house rent of N150,000.
“I will just say a little here; no employed pastor was paid N80,000 in the church. The highest salary is for degree holders which is N53,000 and, this N53,000 is not the net salary at the end of the month. The pastor will only receive N38,000 at the end of the month; N6,000 goes to the pension account and N9,000 goes to house rent account.
“It is very funny that the pastors, we honoured, could keep the money they removed from our salaries in their personal bank accounts for long without paying into our pension accounts. It was when they sacked us that they started paying into the pension accounts. Imagine that.”