'Instead of enriching billionaire pastors, I'd rather feed the poor' — Nollywood actress on why she doesn't pay tithe

• Sarah Martins said she does not pay tithes, preferring to use the money to feed and empower people.

• The actress said enriching "billionaire pastors" is not how she believes tithes should be used.

• She also revealed spending up to ₦15 million on a movie and earning as much as ₦40 million in one month.

Nollywood actress and content creator Sarah Martins has sparked a conversation after revealing that she does not pay tithe, saying she would rather use the money to feed and empower people who have no one to turn to.

Martins, who runs a popular YouTube channel where she produces and distributes Nollywood movies, made the remarks in a recent interview where she spoke about her growing reputation for acts of charity.

"Instead of enriching billionaire pastors, I rather use that to empower people who don't know where their help comes from. I don't pay tithe. What I do is a means of paying tithe," she said.

She went further to describe her relationship with the people she helps in terms that are likely to generate debate.

"To the streets, I am the God they see. As God is blessing me, I'm transferring the blessing on them as well so that it will go round," she said.

When asked about the scale of her giving, Martins revealed that she has cooked for as many as 1,000 people at once, funding and preparing the meal entirely by herself.

"That is like 2 bags of rice. From my own pocket and of course I cooked it myself, alone," she said.

Born Chukwukere Sarah Ujunwa on August 18, 1991, in Imo State, Martins studied at Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic before obtaining a degree from the University of Port Harcourt. She began her acting career in 2016 and has since appeared in a string of Nollywood productions including The Widows, Dangerous Mad Man, The Gods Are Wise, Family Lies, and Feast of the Spirits.

Beyond acting, she runs Sarah's Place Empire in Port Harcourt and operates a YouTube channel under her name where she releases Nollywood content to a growing audience.

She revealed that the highest she has earned in a single month is ₦40 million, and that the most she has spent producing a movie was ₦15 million, a project she said did not recoup its budget. "It was more of those street interviews," she said.

Despite the financial risk, Martins said her philosophy around money remains consistent, that giving to someone who can never repay you is the highest form of love.

"There is no love that is greater than giving to somebody you know will never be able to pay you back," she said.

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