By Tofarati Ige

Sundays are usually the most special days in the Ibikunle family. The preparation for the holy day begins from the preceding Saturday evening when the attires that all members of the household would be donning to church the next day would have been ironed and arranged on a table from where members of the family would get them the next day.

On Sunday mornings, the head of the house, Mr. Rotimi Ibikunle, would hand out money to the children which they would use as offering in church. He usually gave his five children N100 each, and on first Sundays of every month, he doubled the amount and gave them N200 each.

But all that changed some months ago. Due to the economic recession biting hard all over the country, Mr. Ibikunle, like many others, has had to ‘restructure’ his personal finance.

Apart from cutting out frivolities and unnecessary items, Ibikunle has also reduced the money he gives his children as offering. This is even as his own offering has dropped, as well as his tithe.

In a chat with Saturday Vanguard, he said, “I must confess to you that times are hard. Business is not moving as smoothly as before, and as a result of that, I make less money these days. I have had to reduce my spending as well. Because my earnings have reduced, it has also affected my tithe. And I’m sure, many other people are also experiencing something similar to mine.”

Dupe Ashaolu, a single mother of two who lives in Lagos also has a similar story. As a matter of fact, she has been lagging behind on paying her tithe for some months now. She says; “My brother, these are really not the best of times in this country. I can’t remember ever being this ‘broke.’ It seems all the avenues through which money comes in for me have suddenly been blocked. Can you believe that as conscientious and religious as I am, I have not paid my tithe in the past three months? Meanwhile, I used to send my tithe to the church account even before I removed school fees of my children.

But now, we are owed arrears of salary at work, and I’m even up to my nose in debt.” And so the tales of woe resonate around the country. The current economic recession, which is said to be the worst in 29 years, has spared no industry in its scourge.

In a chat with the pastor of a growing church, The Kings Seed, in the Ojodu-Berger area of Lagos, he affirmed that there has indeed been a dip in the church’s finances. According to him, for the past five months, the number of people paying their tithes has dropped.

In a chat with Saturday Vanguard, he explained better, “I must let you know that the church is in the world, but we are not of the world. We don’t operate with the economy of this world, for our root is in heaven. But truly, the finance of the church is feeling the effects of the economic recession too.  Some of our members are working in places where they have had to reduce their salaries.

And some have even being retrenched. For the past five months now, the number of people paying their tithes has reduced. We care about our members, and we have someone who goes to them to find out why they stopped paying their tithes. When they open up to us that they have lost their jobs, or are having financial difficulties, we encourage them and try to motivate them. We pray that the economic condition of the country gets better soon.”

Even though Muslim faithful don’t pay tithes in the mosque, it is obvious that they would also be feeling the pinches as well, just like everybody else. Indeed, the mood in churches right now mirrors the gloomy economic climate. The songs, sermons, and even prayer points reflect the downturn in the country. The major prayer on the lips of many now is, ‘Father do something now!’