A human rights activist, Chief Patrick Eholor, has urged religious bodies to rise up and regulate the proliferation of churches in the country.
The activist and founder of One Love Foundation stated this in a chat with newsmen in Benin Sunday.
He said the action would help preserve the sanity of the Church in Nigeria.
He said the call became necessary against the background of incessant immoral activities of some faith based organisations in the country.
“We also have the problem of explosion of mushroom churches across the country,” he said.
Eholor specifically called on the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to ensure that only trained and qualified clergymen are allowed to establish worship centres in the country.
He said many citizens were victims of fake pastors, Bishops, prophets and apostles in the country.
He advised the federal government to take a cue from the reform embarked upon by the Rwanda government to halt the proliferation of worship centres in that country.
“The government of Rwanda said what is happening in Nigeria and Uganda cannot happen in Rwanda.
“The government shut down over 8,000 churches in one day and said before you can be a pastor; you must be educated and acquire the prerequisite training.
“It went further to say that such a person must have a Phd as the minimum requirement, and people must attest to your character before you can be allowed to found a church.
“It is only in Nigeria that people promote themselves to Bishops and Apsotles. How many Bishops do we have in Rome?” he said.
He said: “If all the Nigerian churches were to be in Rome, everybody will have been a Pope. But there is only one Pope in Rome. Today, you wake up and see all kinds of bishops and apostles. The people that founded the church; how many bishops did they have?”
