Daniel Olabiyi
In 2018, the federal government celebrated Babatunde Fowler’s efficiency in tax collection. The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)had raked in far more than his predecessors, N5.32 trillion. The feat became a campaign motto for the All Progressives Congress (APC): ‘The government had blocked all the leakages.’
But curiously, a leaked query from Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the President asked Fowler to explain why his agency was collecting tax revenues far lower than its target.
Fowler was also specifically asked to explain the reason his agency’s collections for the period 2015 to 2017 were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014.
“We have observed significant variances between the budgeted collections and actual collections for the period 2015 to 2018. Accordingly, you are kindly invited to submit a comprehensive variance analysis explaining the reasons for the variances between budgeted and actual collections for each main tax item for each of the years 2015 to 2018.
“Furthermore, we observe that the actual collections for the period 2015 to 2017 were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014. Accordingly, you are kindly invited to explain the reasons for the poor collections, ” the query reads.
There are indications to suggest that the query to Fowler is not on why he didn’t meet his target. After all, targets are simply projections which are set to motivate staffers to double their efforts. The query, however, may be connected to the multiple sleazes at the FIRS which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating.
In April, nine senior officials of the agency, including the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mohammed Auta, were arrested over a missing N6 billion.
In May, the coordinating director, support services of the FIRS, Peter Hena, was also quizzed for approving fictitious travel allowances to many staff who didn’t travel anywhere.
“Some of the staff were questioned on why they received huge amounts of money in their accounts, but evidence from the staff attendance register showed that they did not travel. Many of them explained how they remitted the money to a particular account and kept a percentage,” the Daily Trust quoted an EFCC source.
The situation of Fowler was not helped by another revelation during a public hearing at the National Assembly. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had protested that the FIRS short paid the federation account by N27 billion for the month of December 2018.
According to the FIRS records, it claimed to have remitted N321.23 billion to the Federation Account. But the CBN insisted that what it got from the FIRS was N294.62 billion. The shortfall of N27 billion remains unexplained.
Fowler’s FIRS had shocked Nigerians during the budget defence at the National Assembly when it proposed to spend N160 million to sew uniforms for its 850 drivers. That is, N188,000 per uniform or N94,000 if each driver would get two pairs. Were the uniforms coming from Alexander McQueen or Calvin Klein? The FIRS didn’t provide a response.
There was also another outlandish expenditure of N825 million for refreshment. It is not clear whether the refreshment is for all the 8,000 employees of the FIRS or for visitors.
And like Governors who are entitled to security votes, the FIRS also allocated for itself N250 million as security votes.
Fowler was appointed on August 18, 2015. His appointment was confirmed by the Senate on December 9, the same year.
Fowler and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo were childhood friends and classmates at the Igbobi College, Lagos, between 1969 and 1975. They both served under Bola Tinubu when he was the Lagos State governor, whose administration lifespan was between 1999 and 2007. Fowler was Lagos Internal Revenue Service boss, while Osinbajo was Attorney General of Lagos State.
The presidency may be soft on Fowler, perhaps, because of his closeness to the vice president. But somehow, they may manage to deny him a second term as his first term just expired today, August 19.
