The now-suspended Corporate Governance Code of the Financial Reporting Council has continued to generate reactions especially since Pastor Enoch Adeboye stepped down as the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God(RCCG) Nigeria. The Chief Missioner Ansar-ud-Deen Nigeria, Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Ahmad believes that religious leaders in churches and mosques are however answerable to God and the government. On whether the regulations of the Financial Reporting Council are specifically targeted at churches, Ahmad told PUNCH that, “I think nothing can be farther from the truth. Arguments or thoughts like that are very reckless, illogical and unfair.
“I am not a political apologist and I do not belong to any political party. This was a law that was enacted and passed during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan when a Christian, Senator David Mark, was the Senate President. At the time the law was passed nobody said anything; there was no complaint or call for public hearing. There was no apparent criticism of the regulations. It is now only when the implementation was about to start that people are now saying various things. It is satanic to read religion into the codes. Let us look at the fact of the matter; there is the need for transparency and accountability where public funds are involved. In churches and mosques – and churches to a very large extent – public funds are being expended.
“It is common knowledge that some of these churches are super-rich with their total worth running into billions of naira, even billions of dollars. Some of them also have businesses. If they are involved in businesses, running universities and expensive secondary schools among other business ventures, then it is only fair for them to be taxed as other Nigerians are taxed. Religion should not be a shield and nobody should hide under the cover of religion to evade tax. Also, it is said that every Sunday there are a number of bullion vans that go to certain churches to take up offerings (money contributed by congregants) and that’s a lot of money.
“It is not a bad idea at all that the government should look into this money. It is charity; even funds of charities should be scrutinised. It should be seen that people are giving freely because they are cheerful givers and the question is: is the money used for the purpose it is meant for? I don’t think that should create any problem for either the mosque or the church. It is about transparency. It is about accountability. It is about responsibility. The only area that may appear contentious (in the FRC codes) is when government wants to directly regulate the administration of religions; that will be contentious.
“Nigerians can choose to forget things selectively; it is this same law that prevented some select families from controlling banks; that banks should not be a financial empire controlled by some families, holding the public to ransom. Of course, some of these mega religious houses have higher net worth than manufacturing firms and they are usually owned and controlled by the father, wife and the children. They are the virtual owners of everything. Some of these religious houses have universities and they charge outrageous fees. They have some of the most expensive universities in Nigeria.
” These universities were built from public funds. Therefore, the government should be concerned about how public funds are being expended by religious organisations. I don’t see anything wrong with that. It does not appear as witch-hunt. But if it appears Christians are more affected, to me, it is because this is a matter that concerns Christianity more than Islam. There are no super-rich Muslim organisations – I am not aware of any. I am not exonerating Muslim organisations. If there is any super-rich Muslim organisation, then same rules should be applied to it.
“What I think, however, is that the (leadership) succession, the internal administration of religious houses must be left to the religious organisations concerned, governed by their constitutions and by the consensus of the agreement of the people. It will be counter-productive for government to seek to manipulate the leadership of religious houses by determining the tenure (of the founder or leader). I think that’s the only part I found in the regulations to be wanting.”
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