A former presidential aide has urged Nigerians to stop paying tithes to their Churches and start paying taxes to the government if they want Nigeria to progress.
Omokri in a tweet on his verified X account said while Nigerians could demand information from the government through the Freedom of Information Act to enquire about how the taxes they paid were spent, they don’t have the courage to ask their General Overseers to give account of how their tithes were spent.
He pointed out that there were other laws in Malachi and the laws of Mosaic, which include laws allowing polygamy, saying If they take that law from Malachi, why do they not observe the other laws that allow polygamy.
Omokri said: “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.”
Omokri wondered how many Nigerian churches have given their members a breakdown of what they do with their tithes.
According to him, 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.
Omokri noted that Nigeria would 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.
Quoting World Bank, he added that 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 is an abysmally low rate of less than 10%.
He stressed that despite the above, no citizen of any country is as entitled as a Nigerian.
Omokri noted: “Our government earns about $30 billion a year from oil and gas to a population of 220 million people. And on that basis, we want cheap fuel, electricity, and high minimum wages, as well as free education and pipe-borne water,
“Yet, according to Statistica, Nigeria has a higher rate of paying tithes than the above listed countries. Why are we not individually and collectively prospering more than those countries?
“Yeshua said, ‘give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
“Money belongs to Caesar (government). Pay your taxes. Tithes in Scripture were only agricultural. They were never monetary and they were only requested by God from Jews and paid only to Levites-Numbers 18:24.
“And tithes were agricultural only. The reason for this was that the Levites were not allowed to farm. The modern payment of tithes in Christendom (as opposed to Christianity) cannot be supported by any Scripture.”
Omokri pointed out that the preachers are found of using a verse from Malachi 3:10, which states:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”
He said: “However, note that a storehouse refers to a barn, where only food and other agricultural produce were kept. The Jews were never asked to bring money.
“Additionally, there are multiple other laws in Malachi and the laws of Mosaic, which include laws allowing polygamy. If they take that law from Malachi, why do they not observe the other 612 or so other laws?”