Aniefiok Christopher
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, said the commission investigated the founder of Streams of Joy International, Jerry Eze, for six months over suspected money laundering before clearing him of any wrongdoing.
Olukoyede who made the revelation on Wednesday while speaking at the Jerry Eze Foundation Business Grant Award Ceremony in Abuja said after reviewing the financial records and inviting the pastor for questioning, no wrongdoing was established.
He explained that the investigation was triggered by intelligence reports and petitions following unusual inflows of foreign currencies into the cleric’s domiciliary account.
The EFCC Boss said dollars and pounds were coming in from multiple countries, which raised concerns and led the agency to carry out a full investigation.
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“I am going to embarrass you today. I never wanted to say it, but I just felt that was my little way of making this contribution.
“I investigated this man for six months for money laundering. We work by intelligence, we work by petitions.
“At some point, there was an account, a domiciliary account; dollars, pounds were dropping like raindrops from Colombia, from America, from Sri Lanka, even from Togo.
Olukoyede added that he later invited Pastor Eze to commend him after understanding how the funds were received and used, noting that the EFCC will continue to monitor financial activities as part of its mandate.“
I said, ‘Who is this man?’ Yes, I have been hearing about his name. I have seen his face a couple of times. I never bothered about what he was doing; he is a pastor,” Olukoyede said.
“So, they said it’s one Pastor Jerry Eze of Streams of Joy. Go and investigate him. So, we went into investigation; we combed the books. Yes, we saw the money coming in.
“So, my investigating officer came to me one day and said, ‘Sir, this is the preliminary report.’ I said I would like to see this man. Go and invite him.
“So, he (Eze) came to my office. I saw him. I had seen that face, but I didn’t know it was him, because I saw somebody who came in with baggy trousers, a T-shirt, and some punk with a parting.
“I was almost going to say, ‘Go and call your pastor, my friend; go and bring your bishop.”
“So, he told me what happens, how the money came, and how he has been helping people and all of that. I told him, ‘I didn’t call you here to explain to me. We’ve already done our work. I called you here to commend you,” he added.
The EFCC chairman urged him to continue to keep his hands clean, because the anti-graft agency, according to him, “will always come for you”.
“The only thing that is remaining now is to give you a letter of validation, but I’m not going to give you because I’ll still continue to monitor your finances.”
Eze donates N1b to 240 small business owners
Meanwhile, the founder and lead pastor of Streams of Joy International and convener of the popular prayer platform New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations (NSPPD), Jerry Eze, disbursed over ₦1 billion in business grants to enterpreneurs.
Records from 2024 showed that the Foundation awarded about $720,000 (over ₦1 billion) in grants to roughly 240 small business owners across Nigeria.
The beneficiaries span sectors such as retail, agriculture and services, with supporters describing the initiative as one of the largest recent faith-driven empowerment programmes in the country.
Further evidence from NSPPD broadcasts and independently circulated videos highlighted medical interventions, including payment of hospital bills and sponsorship of surgeries for individuals with critical conditions. Beneficiary testimonies, alongside confirmations from hospitals, have been widely shared online.
The Foundation has also expanded its reach into child welfare, with an orphanage project providing shelter and long-term care, as well as housing support initiatives that have seen completed homes handed over to vulnerable families.
Analysts said the divide reflected a broader tension between transparency and perception in faith-based philanthropy.
While public documentation can serve as proof of impact and accountability, critics argued it risked turning humanitarian work into performative content.
Pastor Eze is Nigeria’s highest earning YouTuber for the second consecutive year.
The latest ranking by Playboard, a global YouTube analytics platform, shows that the pastor records the country’s largest live viewership, averaging 282,451 viewers per stream.
Eze’s channel is linked to Streams of Joy International and has grown to 2.87 million subscribers with more than 2,900 uploaded videos.
The pastor is also the convener of the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations, NSPPD, which has drawn about 80 million viewers in 2025 alone.
Playboard estimates his earnings at N1.94 million daily, N7.95 million in the last 24 hours, and N47.7 million over the past week. His cumulative revenue is placed at N10.71 billion, reflecting a sharp increase from 2024.
The top five Nigerian YouTube earners are all faith-based channels. They include Paul S. Joshua of The Refiner’s House Ministries; Dunamis TV of Pastor Paul Enenche’s Dunamis International Gospel Centre; Celebration TV, founded by Apostle Johnson Suleman of Omega Fire Ministries; and Rev. Sam Oye of The Transforming Church.
Other high-earning channels in the country include Table of Babylon, UKFamilyShow, Eno Jerry, Catholic Reflection Family, Johnson Suleman, Harvesters TV, Free Indeed TV Ministry, Berekete Family, and Fada Ebube Muonso.
He earns an average of over ₦7 million daily from his YouTube channel, primarily through Super Chat donations during live-streamed prayers. On high-traffic days, such as Sundays, his income reaches over ₦21 million in a single day.
Reports consistently cite over ₦7 million in daily YouTube revenue, as monitored on Playboard.
His YouTube channel has accumulated over ₦10.6 billion, making him Nigeria’s highest-earning creator on the platform.
The vast majority of this revenue stems from YouTube’s “Super Chat” feature, where followers pay to have their prayer requests highlighted during his popular daily “What God Cannot Do Does Not Exist” live sessions.
His channel boasts over 2.1 million subscribers, with high viewership that drives these high figures, placing him among the top 100 YouTube content creators globally.
