06/04/2024
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Reno Omokri
If Nigeria Must Progress, Nigerians Must Stop Paying Tithes and Start Paying Taxes
Nigerians prefer paying tithes to their churches and then demanding for roads and proper infrastructure from their government to whom they hardly pay taxes. Am I lying?
No matter how corrupt and inept you think the Nigerian government is, they are far more open and transparent about what they do with the little taxes you pay than ANY church in Nigeria. Do you see that guy who probed Emefiele? Jim Obazee. If President Tinubu should ask him to probe Nigerian mega-churches, some GOs would be in jail. Nigerian churches are some of the least regulated entities on planet Earth.
Okay, which church in Nigeria has given you, as a member, a breakdown of what they do with your tithes? Yet, you see their General Overseers and Senior Pastors living extravagant lives, even where there is extreme poverty in their congregations. They build schools, often with members tithes, that the children of those members cannot attend.
In contrast, the Nigerian government publishes an annual budget of what they will do with your tax Naira. A budget that can and is often scrutinised and criticised by the public and media, because it is a public document. And when they spend the appropriated monies, the Freedom of Information Act allows you to get information on who was paid what, when and how.
That is how the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was exposed. But can you dare ask your pastors what they do with your tithes?
Nigeria will never reach its full potential if Nigerians don't pay taxes. It works both ways. Taxes give the government more funds, and make the citizens more vigilant over how their government spends their money.
According to the World Bank, taxes account for 39% of the GDP of Germany, 46.3% in Denmark, 45.4% in France, 42.9% in Sweden and Belgium, 34.1% in Japan, and 23.7% in South Africa. But in Nigeria, it i
