Nigeria Desperately Needs To Tax Religion
Written by Ayo Akinfe
Friday, 13 March 2009
Nigeria desperately needs to tax religion



By Ayo Akinfe

Over the last week, it was revealed that the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) acquired a new aircraft for N4bn ($28m). To allow its leader Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye carry out his calling more efficiently, the church bought a Gulfstream 4XP that has the capacity of about 15 depending on its configuration.

It was flown into Lagos from Bahamas last Sunday and puts RCCG on a par with one of its main rivals, the Living Faith Worldwide church, whose general overseer Bishop David Oyedepo, flies around in a Challenger aircraft. Apparently, Bishop Oyedepo has ordered another aircraft bigger than the one acquired by Pastor Adeboye.


Apart from purchase costs, a lot of money is spent maintaining these aircrafts and paying the crew, in addition to the landing and parking charges. Unlike a commercial aircraft that is always in the air, private jets spend more time on the ground and must be checked before taking off.


One aeronautical engineer at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos, said: “The same with refitting parts. These are parts that are changed after every 12 or 15 calendar months whether you are flying or not, so, acquiring a private aircraft means that you are ready to be spending money to keep it going.”


A former official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, added: “ This is unbelievable. You know the amount of poverty in this land, which I know is widespread. How can he acquire such aircraft when he knows that members of his church are suffering? Even the Pope does not have a private jet. I am a Catholic. It is true that the Catholic church is the richest church in the world in terms of artefacts but the Pope flies Alitalia. How can the Pope tell the church that he wants a private jet?"


What we are witnessing with RCCG and Living Faith Worldwide are not isolated incidents. Across Nigeria, religious organisations simply have too much money. They account for such a high percentage of our gross national product (GDP) that Nigeria cannot afford the luxury of granting them charitable status. It is time to tax our churches and mosques.


We do not have precise figures but I would not be surprised if churches and mosques account for as much as 10% of Nigeria's GDP. Economically, Nigeria simply cannot afford to let them go. We have to deal with the economic realities on the ground and in Nigeria it means that religion must be levied.

Do you know that in 2008 Nigerians spent a total N34.63bn on pilgrimages to holy sites in Saudi Arabia and Israel? Of this amount, the Muslim annual pilgrimage cost the nation a total N29.7073bn, while that of Christians cost the national economy N4.93bn.

Figures obtained from the Central Bank and the federal and states pilgrims boards showed that in October 2008, a total 84,878 Nigerians went to Mecca to perform the annual hajj, in which a total N29.7073bn was spent on a package that amounted to N350,000 per person. Tickets for the airlift of the Muslim pilgrims alone amounted to N24.275bn.

In December, a total 17,000 pilgrims were approved by the federal government to perform the annual Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem at a cost of N290,000 per person. Tickets for the airlift of the Christian pilgrims amounted to N174m. This brought the total amount spent on air tickets for the two pilgrimages in 2008 to N24.449bn.

In October 2008, 84,878 Nigerians performed the hajj to Mecca and a maximum of $1,500 was approved as personal travelling allowance for each of the Muslim pilgrims, thus resulting in total foreign exchange procurement of $127.21m per person.


If I were to list the top 10 sectors in the Nigerian economy, it would look something like this - oil and gas, agriculture, banking, religion, telecommunications, insurance, retailing, manufacturing, services and leisure & hospitality All the other sectors are being taxed, so why should religion be spared? A religious tax could provide funding for education, healthcare, transport and a lot of our infrastructural problems.

With oil prices perilously low and none of the other sectors robust enough to generate sufficient revenue, religion is the only industry that can provide an immediate respite to our plethora of current problems. Whether we like it or not, finance minister Mukhtar Mansur simply has to levy churches and mosque to balance his books during 2009.

With President Yar’Adua declaring that the 2009 budget is over-optimistic and unlikely to match the goals for which it was originally drafted due to the onset of the global economic recession, it is time to think outside the box. We simply need to start thinking in a lateral manner and this means considering what was hitherto regarded as sacrosanct.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and believe you me, these are difficult moments. Not only does religion not bring in a penny to the Nigerian treasury, it actually acts as a drain on it, milking our poor export earnings of funds that are desperately needed to resolve our plethora of socio-economic woes.

There will never be a better time for Dr Mansur to bite the bullet and scrap the charitable status churches and mosques enjoy. A little bit of political courage is needed here.


http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/ayo-akinfe/nigeria-desperately-needs-to-tax-rel.html

Has the FG managed the income from other forms of taxation before wanting to add churches and mosques?

Are the individuals willingly contributing to churches and mosques not already taxed?

Cancel the pilgrimages and let people sponsor themselves if they can. Government should get it's nose out of religion and it will do us all a world of good.

Life is good for the pastor whilst the congression is suffering.

But why not? When you see the herds of morons going for salvation to solve their problems instead of thinking about it, they deserve what they get which is FRAUD.

I sing:

Amen, Amen,

Messages of glory,

Jesus has given the pastor,

Suffering and misery,

for the rest of the congression,

Forever and ever, Ammmmen.

debosky:

Has the FG managed the income from other forms of taxation before wanting to add churches and mosques?

Are the individuals willingly contributing to churches and mosques not already taxed?

Cancel the pilgrimages and let people sponsor themselves if they can. Government should get it's nose out of religion and it will do us all a world of good. 

@debosky
1. I agree that the government has been irresponsible in its expenditures .

2. The argument that the contributor has already been taxed does not stand, as a similar argument is not applicable to other service businesses.

3. Does the government sponsor people? When it comes to pilgrimage, I think the large number of people involved and the diplomatic needs will keep the goverment involved for a while.

@topic
I am less concerned about whether they tax religious bodies or not (as long as it is applicable to all, including the local witch doctor), but rather about what happens to the revenue the get.
Even if they wanted to tax churches and mosques, the tax collection system is too porous to get enough income to justify the uproar that it would cause.

The churches themselves shouldn't be taxed but the revenue they generate from those overpriced universities they are building should be.

bawomolo:

The churches themselves shouldn't be taxed but the revenue they generate from those overpriced universities they are building should be.

So these universities are not taxed?

moneygurl:

So these universities are not taxed?

are they taxed or do they have non-profit exempt status?

they should stop sponsoring pilgrimages.

Ogun state would make alot of money from that. since they would benefit from all the tax,  all tithe goes to ogun state. where most of this headquarter are located.

the  church should not be tax.  you have to tax mosque in nigeria, and if you know anything about the north,  walahi,  those people up there in the north , would cut over the head of who there tax them.   Every muslim would have to pay regilion tax which must be equal to what every the christain are paying. no cheating.

Noone in nigeria can tax religion. you want tax osama bin landi??

@ kaygee1234,
I dont agree that religious organisations should be taxed cos that would amount to extra funds to loot by the the looters masqurading under the guise of government. However, I suggest PFN, and other religious bodies should as a matter of conscience & moral suasion establish non profit organisations for humanitarian purposes and industries that can employ some of the millions of christian & muslim graduates who engage themselves in various vices as a result of unemployment. I dont know much about Islam but I know christianity preaches love and this can be seen in the life of Jesus. He fed his followers and healed the sick and down trodden among them. The same Jesus said, 'it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to see the kingdom of God', yet these so called religious leaders command unimaginable wealth while many of their followers live on less than 2dollars a day. If these religious leaders can contribute as little as 20percent of their wealth for people oriented projects, I bet u it will make a huge difference to so many lives.

rubbish. why not tax your thieving politicians first. another useless brain from the free education era.

why didnt he ask why the govt sponsor more mole's than christians?

Yes, they need to tax religious sites but must first disband and disenfranchise all traditional rulers. You would be surprised what disenfranchising traditional rulers would do. Then, that way there's a level playing field then you can tax religious sites, politicians, and civilians( just like they do now). It is tribal, religion, and politics that are the main causes of mayhem and seem to hinder nigeria ingenuity. So is only right it gets cut off from the head first, then body, and then other parts.

@post
i totally and unequivocably disagree with that notion of taxing religion,while its all well and dandy heaqping all societal ills on religion we shouldnt forget that fiscal social responsibility is not their responsibility but a priviledge if they do it,also the adherents donate mney to them with eyes wide open,the fact that some ppl can suggest this means they have not hypnotised anyone.

if not for the likes of mfm,redeem and oher mega churches,developemental strides wouldnt have gotten that far down the lagos-ibadan expressway, plots of land go for well over 1 million naira where only less than ten years ago, you would have been given a plot of land for the price of a nokia handset,not forgetting that these mega churches also give hope to millions of average nigerians, in the absence of this,we will be sitting on a keg of gunpowder as a little spark could lead us down the rwanda road.

also,in an international climate where nigerians are known as a country ridden with corruption419ers,e.t.c these general overseers,pastors e.t.c are doing more to show nigeria in a positive image than any single individual or group of people,anyone that has attended festival of life in london will testify to how white british politicians limb over each other to kiss pastor adeboye's feet