The head
honcho in the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Babatunde Fowler, has been
accused of being involved in an employment scandal at the tax agency.
According
to SaharaReporters, Fowler, a protégé of Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of
All Progressives Congress, APC, oversaw the employment of 3,489 new staff in
violation of the necessary procedures.
It was
reported that the recruitment exercise was not preceded by a public
advertisement of vacancies to be filled and approval by the Federal Character
Commission as the service rules stipulate.
The
newly employed persons, SaharaReporters said, were inducted in Abuja last
Wednesday.
Fowler,
who was appointed last August by President Muhammadu Buhari, had previously
been accused of indifference to service rules on employment by secretly hiring
250 new staff. However, his accusers, could not make the charge stick, as he
claimed those hired are not full-time employees but consultants.
The
latest findings, however, are accompanied by substantial evidence including the
list of new recruits, complete with their states of origin, dates of birth,
phone numbers, email addresses, academic qualifications, recommended ranks and
proposed duty stations.
The
list, exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, showed that six of the new
recruits are of the position of deputy director, while 10 are assistant
directors. Thirty-four others are of the rank of deputy manager, while the rest
are made up of senior managers, managers, assistant managers and officers. All
the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory are represented on the list.
Akwa Ibom State, for example, got six slots, while Gombe has 13. Ondo State is
a beneficiary of 13 slots. Lagos State, where Fowler hails from, was awarded 14
slots.
Katsina
got 18, Kano 15 and Borno 23. Rivers State was given 14 slots. But in certain
cases, the list does not show the states of origin and education qualifications
of some of the new staff, making it difficult to know they states of origin and
qualifications.
Wahab
Gbadamosi, FIRS acting Director of Information, told a news website last week
that relevant agencies of government approved the recruitment.
“Your
enquiry on the targeted recruitment at the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS
refers. We wish to respond as follows: Please note that requisite agencies of
government approved the targeted recruitment by the FIRS. Due Process -in
recruiting into a Federal Government agency- was followed; The FIRS is a
conscientious, law-abiding institution which adheres to statutory rules and
procedures; The FIRS is focused on its duty to collect revenue to fund the
national budget and pleads that it should be allowed to concentrate on its 2016
target of N4. 9 trillion,” he was quoted to have responded via email.
Noticeably
absent from the mail, however, are whether the vacancies were advertised or not
and the names of the relevant agencies that green-lighted the recruitment.
As with
the CBN recruitment scandal, the list of employed persons reeks of nepotism.
..sahareporters
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