By Stephanie Sewuese Shaakaa
Nigeria’s government is desperate for revenue. Subsidy is gone. The Naira has been devalued. VAT has risen. Citizens are squeezed dry. Market women are taxed. Traders are taxed. Civil servants are taxed. Even sachet water carries a levy.
But there is one empire in Nigeria untouched, untaxed, and untouchable,the church.
Every Sunday, the offering plate swallows billions. Collectively, Nigerian churches generate an estimated $9–15 billion annually more than the budgets of many states combined.
One Lagos-based church reportedly generates over ₦80 billion annually in tithes more than the budgets of Ekiti and Gombe states combined.
Some of our biggest ministries boast turnovers rivaling multinational corporations. And yet, while ordinary Nigerians pay through their noses, these vast religious empires contribute nothing to government revenue.
Faith is not the problem. Nigerians are among the most spiritual people on earth. But when faith becomes the biggest business in the land, why does it remain exempt from the responsibilities every other business shoulders?
President Tinubu was bold enough to remove fuel subsidy overnight, plunging millions into hardship. But where does that boldness go when it comes to taxing the pulpit? Why does political courage evaporate the moment it approaches the altar?
The answer is fear not of God, but of men who claim to speak for Him. Pastors command loyalty that politicians can only dream of. Congregations double as voting blocs. To confront the pulpit is to risk political suicide. And so, successive governments pretend not to see the obvious
The richest institutions in the land enjoy total immunity while the poorest citizens are taxed into the ground.
A widow selling bread pays VAT. A church running billion-naira businesses pays nothing.
A mechanic pays tax on his earnings. A pastor with private jets pays none
Ordinary citizens fund the nation through sacrifice. The church grows its empire tax-free.
This is economic sabotage. In a country where public schools collapse and hospitals lack oxygen, why should the marble auditoriums of billion-naira ministries remain exempt from contributing their share?
Around the world, churches are not given blank cheques. In Germany, citizens pay a “church tax” deducted from income. In France, churches are taxed on commercial revenue. In the UK, charity laws demand transparency and accountability. Even in the United States, where churches are exempt from income tax, scrutiny over misuse is fierce. But in Nigeria? Churches operate like shadow states,no taxes, no audits, no questions asked.
And so the absurdity deepens. Nigerians pay tithe to their churches, tax to their government, and sacrifice to survive but churches themselves pay neither tithe nor tax to anyone.
While Nigerians can barely buy 10 liters of fuel,church generators roar all week without a blink.
The government tells citizens, tighten your belts, subsidy is gone. But it dares not tell churches,open your books, pay your dues.
Tinubu could confront subsidy overnight, but he dares not confront the pulpit by daylight. That is not leadership it is cowardice dressed as piety
This cowardice diminishes the state. A government that can demand sacrifice from the poor but trembles before the pulpit has lost moral authority. A nation where market women fund the treasury while billion-dollar churches contribute nothing is not a nation of justice it is a nation of selective burden.
No institution should be above accountability. If the government is serious about revenue, progress, and fairness, it must summon the courage to tax Nigeria’s most profitable business empire. Faith should not mean immunity. Hope should not mean exemption.
Because the real subsidy Nigeria has refused to touch is not fuel it is the untouchable empire of the church. And until that changes, every tax hike, every devaluation, every demand for citizen sacrifice will ring hollow.
The offering plate cannot remain a one-way street. If Nigerians must sacrifice for the nation, then so must their churches.
If churches paid just 10% in corporate taxes, Nigeria could fund free primary healthcare nationwide. Instead, we squeeze the poor for crumbs.
A market woman selling pepper pays daily levies. A church collecting billions in tithes pays nothing.
The true subsidy Nigeria cannot afford is not fuel. It is the immunity of billion-dollar churches built on the poverty of their own people.
If the state can tax the sweat of the mechanic, the hustle of the trader, and the grind of the farmer, why does the wealth of the pulpit remain untouchable?
Nigeria bleeds from its poor while its richest sanctuaries are crowned with immunity.
A government that dares to touch petrol subsidy but trembles before the altar is not reformist, it is selective.
The market woman who hawks tomatoes pays her dues daily, the church that counts billions in offerings pays none, justice does not live here.
True equality before the law is measured not by how boldly you tax the weak, but how fearlessly you confront the strong.
If Caesar must collect what belongs to Caesar, then even the sanctuary must not be a tax-free empire.
Every naira not taxed at the altar is another pothole left unfilled, another hospital unfunded, another child unschooled.
When the state trembles at the pulpit, democracy bows before theocracy.
The Nigerian church must contribute to nation-building Charity they say begins at home.
Stephanie Shaakaa
shaakaastephanie@yahoo.com
08034861434
