The Federal Government has opened up on why Babatunde Fowler was not given second term as Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Fowler’s tenure as Executive Chairman of FIRS expired on December 9 and President Muhammadu Buhari named Muhammad Nami as his replacement.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity,Garba Shehu, told journalists in Abuja that the President Buhari effected the change to boost revenue earnings.
“If you ask me, from my own understanding, the problem we have in this country is the revenue issue. We have a revenue problem because we are unable to generate as much money as it is needed to do more capital infrastructure and also service debt. Because of the low revenue earnings, people look at the size of our debt repayment and they scream.
“The government is doing something about this and I am happy you have seen the change that has happened in FIRS; give them a chance, let us see how they would perform. Government is optimistic that things will look upward and the revenue will improve. And once there is an inflow that is sufficient to do a lot of these things, we may not even need to borrow,” Shehu said.
He said President Buhari was borrowing to invest in critical infrastructure.
“It is not a scandal to borrow, the bad thing about borrowing is when you deployed it to your pocket. This happened in the past in this country. President Buhari is borrowing to do railway, East-West expressway,Niger bridge, Mambilla power, Abuja-Kano expressway, Ajaokuta-Abuja gas pipeline. These are projects beneficial to the economy; basic infrastructure projects – railway, power – without which this country cannot achieve development.”
On August 8, President Buhari queried Fowler for worsening tax revenues since 2015.
In the query signed by Chief of Staff Abba Kyari, Buhari told Fowler: “Accordingly, you are kindly invited to submit a comprehensive variance analysis explaining the reasons for the variances between the budgeted collections and actual collections for each main tax item for each of the years 2015 to 2018.”
According to reports: “In 2015, FIRS set N4.7 trillion target but was only able to make N3.7 trillion in the actual collection. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the target collections were N4.2 trillion, N4.8 trillion and N6.7 trillion but the actual collections were N3.3 trillion, N4.0 trillion and N5.3 trillion, respectively.”
In his October 1, 2019 Independence Day address, and without mentioning him by name, Buhari warned Fowler to sit up.
“Our revenue-generating and reporting agencies will come under much greater scrutiny, going forward, as the new performance management framework will reward exceptional revenue performance, while severe consequences will attend failures to achieve agreed revenue targets,” Buhari said.
Fowler applied for a second term, in a letter addressed to Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.
The letter read in part: “I wish to present myself for reappointment for a second term. This is consistent with the provisions of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007 and would grant me the opportunity to consolidate and build on the achievements we have recorded in the past four years.
“Please find attached the highlights of my achievements during my first tenure in office.”
The letter was dated December 9, same day President Buhari announced Nami as his replacement.
