Nigeria News
Controversy Over FIRS Top Job
The appointment of a new chairman for the Federal Inland Revenue Service is halted by legal action against the process, just as critics question the fidelity of the process
•Jonathan: Inexplicably passes off his powers to appoint FIRS Executive Chairman
When Mrs. Ifueko Omogui-Okauru vacated office as the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, about a year ago, hope was that a new boss would immediately be appointed to carry on the excellent job she did at the tax agency. But one year after, Alhaji Kabir Mashi who was appointed as the Acting Chairman has neither been confirmed as the substantive boss of the Service, nor a replacement announced in his place. Yet, Mashi may remain on his seat for a long time as the process of selection of his replacement has now not only been mired in controversies, but has become a matter that may be decided in court.
The Federal Ministry of Finance in September 2012 engaged a consultancy firm, Philips Consulting, to handle the selection process. The consultancy firm had then gone ahead to place advertisements in major local and international publications for that purpose.
In the advertisement, applicants were required to have at least 15 years executive level experience, have at least a first degree from a recognised institution and be a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria or the Nigeria Bar Association. They are also required to have relevant experience and proven track record in tax policy formulation, tax legislation drafting and qualitative tax administration and be multi-skilled in accountancy, economics, taxation, law and related fields, with relevant experience to support the provision of rounded and effective tax administration in all its ramifications. Applicants were also required to include in their applications a write-up not more than 1,000 words, on their vision of the Nigerian tax system by 2020 and how to realise the vision.
Many observers, including top officers of the Federal Ministry of Finance, it was learnt, had, on seeing the advertisement, raised alarm that it was illegal to have appointed consultant to handle the selection process when FIRS (Establishment) Act, 2007, clearly stipulated that the appointment of the Executive Chairman of the FIRS was the sole responsibility of the President, subject to confirmation of the Senate.
• Mashi: Retains FIRS top job for now
Nevertheless, the Ministry and the consultant continued with the selection of the new FIRS Chairman with applications for the job received from Nigerians living at home and abroad. And just as the process was gathering steam, Max Ogar, an Abuja-based lawyer, asked the court to declare the process of selection of a new chairman for FIRS initiated by Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala illegal. His argument was that it was the exclusive power of the President to make such appointments. The legal practitioner anchored his argument on Section 3 (2) (a) of Federal Inland Revenue Act, 2007 which, according to him, vests the President with the authority to appoint any person of his choice into the office. He noted that the President had, in the last two years, appointed chief executives for scores of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including critical ones like Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Nigeria Ports Authority, and Independent National Electoral Commission, without advertisements and interviews. He noted that the FIRS executive chairman’s position had always been filled by persons appointed by the president, with the Senate confirming them.
“Specific to the FIRS job, it is the President’s exclusive right, subject only to Senate confirmation. I expect the President to take absolute charge of the process by looking at whoever he feels can deliver. Nobody needs to screen/interview anyone for Mr. President,” said Ogar. “If we allow the ongoing joke to go, then, we shall get to a point where Nigerians will insist on the President declaring vacant ministerial positions — the National Security Adviser, the Chief of Staff, among others — and subjecting the selection process to screening/interview. May that day never come”, the lawyer added. The legal practitioner told this magazine last week that hearing in the case had been slated for 20 May.
Despite the legal challenge, the Ministry of Finance continued with the selection process. But the process seems to have now been further bogged down by allegations of favouritism and ethnic bias. For one, this magazine learnt that about 30 persons, including Mashi, the incumbent acting chairman, responded to the advertisement by the Ministry of Finance by sending in their applications. Though he was said not to have been the most senior staff at the time Omoigui-Okauru left the FIRS, Mashi’s appointment as acting chairman, according to sources, was influenced by his predecessor in office. To enhance his chances of being selected for the position, Mashi spared no expenses in touting his achievements, including the fact that he was able to generate about N3.401 trillion from taxes within eight months of being in office. Mashi is said to still enjoy the support of Omoigui-Okauru. Also, a section of staff of the service also supported the continuation of Mashi in office, mostly out of fear of what may or not happen if an outsider is brought in to replace him.
•Okonjo-Iweala: Inexplicably passes off his powers to appoint FIRS Executive Chairman
However, to his uttermost shock, Mashi was not among candidates shortlisted for interview by a committee headed by the Minister of Finance, despite the strong backing he enjoyed from Omoigui-Okauru. It was learnt that he was disqualified from the race because he did not have the required qualifications set out in the advertisement for the position. Apart from the Minister, other members of the Committee set up to screen the final four applicants invited for the interview include Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, who is a respected chartered accountant; the immediate past Chairman of the FIRS, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru; Nike Ogunlesi; Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance. But making the names of the panelists and the shortlisted applicants public only worsened controversies surrounding the process.
Eyebrows were particularly raised over the inclusion of Nike Ogunlesi, a businesswoman, as many felt she had no reason to be on the interview panel. The inclusion of Omoigui-Okauru was also faulted by critics who alleged that the four candidates selected for the final interview were close to her. There was also the allegation of ethnic bias against the minister and the former FIRS Chairman when it was realised that all the candidates shortlisted for the interview conducted on Sunday, 3 March were from the South-East and South-South states. Some applicants from other parts of the country claimed that though they had the qualifications stipulated in the advertisement, they were not shortlisted for the interview.
This magazine learnt that Senator Makarfi, angered by non-inclusion of Mashi or any other candidate from the northern part of the country and other controversies, withdrew from the panel. This magazine gathered that the North, just like the South-west, feels marginalised in some appointments to agencies in the nation’s financial and economic sector. Some leaders from the region had hoped that retaining Mashi or appointing someone from the region would be a first step in redressing the alleged imbalance. Indeed, a coalition of northern youths, led by Comrade Shehu Sani, a human rights activist and President of Civil Rights Congress, had queried the rationale behind the appointment of a new chairman for FIRS when Mashi was already in the position and doing quite well. The group claimed the engagement of a consultant to handle the screening of applicants for the position of FIRS was already programmed to lead to the emergence of a favoured candidate.
•Makarfi: Said to have quit interview panel in protest
It was, however, gathered that as a result of the controversies, one of the northern applicants from Bauchi State was invited to be part of those to be interviewed for the position the Thursday before the interview. This magazine gathered that the candidate protested against the short notice he was given to prepare for the interview when he appeared before the interview panel on 3 March. Some of the other candidates interviewed for the position include one Ms. Mfon Akpan of Barclays Bank London; one Victor of KPMG and former Managing Director, Diamond Bank, Emeka Onwuka, who is now the chairman of Enterprise Bank Limited.
While the result of the interview has not been announced, there are speculations that the panel favoured Akpan as the successful candidate. This is in spite of the fact that the United Kingdom-based banker is said not to have experience in taxation administration as required in the advertisement. However, if her appointment is confirmed, it would give added ammunition to those accusing Okonjo-Iweala of utilising her powerful position in the present administration to fill vacant positions with people from her geo-political zone or from the South-South.
For one, the Coalition of Northern Youths had raised eyebrows that almost all occupants of strategic agencies in the economy like the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Sovereign Wealth Fund, Nigeria Communication Commission, Director-General of National Pension Commission and very recently, the Chairman of Investment and Security Tribunal, are from her part of the country.
However, while defending the minister, sources in the presidency pointed out that it was the president himself who directed the advertisement of the position of FIRS chairman. The source told this magazine that the president had, at a ceremony organised to honour the departing Omogui-Okauru last year declared that such crucial positions would be advertised so as to get the best candidate.
•Omoigui-Okauru: Appointment to interview panel raises eyebrows
On the allegation of lopsidedness in appointments made under Okonjo-Iweala, the source pointed out that only the position of Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF, boss was filled under her supervision. “How can you now be blaming her for appointing Igbos who were already in office before she came back as Minister of Finance?”, He queried. According to him, all the other positions had either been filled or the process of filling them was at advanced stage before the Finance Minister resumed office in August, 2011. He added that the process that led to the appointment of Uche Orji as the CEO of SWF was conducted by KPMG, a respected global consulting agency with Fola Adeola, former Guaranty Trust Bank managing director leading the recruitment process.
Meanwhile, thanks to the case in court and controversies surrounding the appointment of a new FIRS boss, Mashi may remain Acting Chairman of the service for a long time.
—Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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