Abuja, April 3, 2024 – The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has tendered an apology to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) over an Easter message that was perceived as disrespectful to Christians.
The Easter message which FIRS posted on its X, formerly Twitter, page read: “Jesus paid your debts, not your taxes,” but it has since generated widespread criticisms for trivializing the Christian faith.
Dare Adekambi, the Special Adviser on Media to FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, while responding to the CAN’s allegation, said the agency had
no intention of undermining the significance of Easter nor offending the Christian faith.
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) about a flier posted on our social media platforms with the headline ‘Jesus paid your debts, not your taxes.’
“As a responsible government agency, we would like to say we did not put out the flier purposely to denigrate Jesus Christ or detract from the huge sacrifice He made for humanity.”
“The message was our way of uniquely engaging taxpayers, to remind them of the need to prioritize payment of their taxes as a civic obligation.
“Yes, we would say the message ruffled feathers in some circles. The unintended meaning/insinuation being read into the post was not what we were out to communicate as an agency.
“Good a thing, this much is acknowledged by CAN in its statement wherein it said, ‘We recognize that the intended message may have been to creatively engage taxpayers,” the FIRS said.
“FIRS, as a responsible agency, has no religion and will not bring down any religion or offend the sensibilities of adherents of various faiths in the country.”
“Our goal is to assess, collect, and account for revenue for the wellbeing of the Federation. It is an investment in the country’s progress when citizens pay taxes.
“Once again, we wish to apologize to CAN and Christians who felt offended by the unintended consequence of our message on Easter Sunday,” FIRS said. (GBN)
