Real Reason Buhari Removed Ex-FIRS Boss Fowler – Presidency

The Presidency on Sunday revealed why President Muhammadu Buhari removed the former chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Babatunde Fowler.

Naija News recalls that Buhari had appointed Muhammad M. Nami as the new chairman of the FIRS.

This online news platform understands that Nami replaced Babatunde Fowler, whose tenure expired on December 9, 2019.

Nami is a tax consultant and graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, northern Nigeria.

Speaking to newsmen at the weekend, Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Garba Shehu, revealed that Fowler’s tenure was not renewed because he failed to generate money revenue for the nation.

According to the Presidential aide, Buhari is optimistic revenue would increase following the removal of Fowler.

“It is not a scandal to borrow, the bad thing about borrowing is when you deployed it to your pocket. This has happened in the past in this country, President Buhari is borrowing to do railway, to do East-West expressway, to do second Niger bridge, to do Mabilla power, to do Abuja-Kano expressway, to do Ajaokuta-Abuja gas pipeline.

“These are projects that are beneficial to the economy, these are basic infrastructure projects – railway, power – without which this country cannot achieve development.

“So, 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. But the government is doing something about this and I’m happy you have seen the change that has happened in FIRS, give them a chance, let see how they would perform. Government is optimistic that things will look upward and the revenue will improve. And once there is inflow that is sufficient to do a lot of these things, we may not even need to borrow,” Shehu said.