Nigerian gospel artist Tim Godfrey has expressed frustration over the treatment of gospel musicians in Nigeria, citing poor compensation and unfair expectations as part of the reason he found it difficult to return to the country.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!In his words, “Coming to Nigeria became difficult because of how artists have been treated so badly and I want to say it’s all of those stories of why are they charging, why are they collecting money, why are they doing this, it got me so so mad.
“I say, why are people wicked? What sense does it make that people work so hard and you are saying they should take nothing. I have collected tubers of yams as honorarium. I have collected a full alive, living, working, breathing chicken as honorarium and that is what I’m going to use to pay school fees, pay house rent, buy property. That is so unfair, absolutely unfair.”
Godfrey, who now lives in the United States, joins a growing list of artists voicing concern about how churches in Nigeria treat musicians.
Earlier this year, award-winning singer Timi Dakolo responded to comments made by Femi Lazarus, lead pastor of Light Nation Church in Abuja, who criticised the high performance fees charged by some gospel musicians.
“Many worship meetings in Nigeria have become performances. Someone charged N5 million to sing here. You’d be shocked at how ruthlessly ministers demand payment,” Pastor Lazarus said.
In response, Dakolo defended gospel musicians on Instagram, pointing out that they are often expected to perform for free despite financial struggles. He questioned why the contributions of gospel musicians are frequently undervalued, especially when their efforts require time, skill and resources.
US-based gospel singer Lara George also addressed the issue, calling out what she described as hypocrisy among some churches.
In a social media post, she said that while local artists are often not compensated fairly, churches do not hesitate to pay large sums to bring in international gospel artists.
She urged people to consider how they would feel if they discovered their favourite international gospel singer charged $100,000 for a single church performance.
The conversation around the payment of gospel artists remains a divisive one in Nigeria. While some believe gospel music is a ministry and should be offered freely, others argue that the work gospel musicians do deserves fair compensation, particularly when churches themselves operate with structured budgets and paid staff.
