Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr Muhammad Nami, has been accused of unlawful retirement of nine directors of the agency to pave way for his allies.

Our correspondent was told that Nami relied on an old civil service rule, which had been suspended to remove the directors.

Reporters gathered that the government of late President Umaru Yar’Adua had instituted a civil service rule which made it compulsory for directors to retire after serving for eight years.

However, President Muhammadu Buhari rescinded that directive.

According to new regulations, civil servants are to leave service after attaining the retirement age of 60 or spending 35 years in service.

A circular was said to have been issued to indicate the suspension of the earlier order.

A copy of the document, obtained by our correspondent and dated June 20, 2016, was also addressed to FIRS.

“With reference to letter No. SH/COS/100/A/1462 dated June 17, 2016, I write to convey Mr. President’s directive that the tenure policy in the Federal Civil Service is suspended with immediate effect. This notice is for the attention of all concerned for compliance,” the letter, signed by a former Head of Service, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, said.

The new regulation was reportedly upheld by former Chairman of FIRS, Mr Babatunde Fowler, as no director was retired as long as they had not crossed the retirement benchmark.

However, after Nami assumed office in November 2019, he was said to have instructed that directors who had served for eight years be retired.

Nine directors received retirement letters in March 2020.

A copy of the letter, signed by Nami read in part, “The board of Federal Inland Revenue Service at its emergency meeting No.2 held on March, 20, 2020, approved the retirement of all directors who have served eight years and above as directors in the service in line with Para 10: 1(a)(iii) of HRPP. Accordingly, you are hereby notified of your compulsory retirement from the service with immediate effect.”

Affected directors are Mr Victor Ekundayo (Career and Skills Development); Mrs Kemi Odusanya (Facility); Emmanuel Obeta (Chairman’s Office); Chiaka Okoye (Programme Office Non-Tax); Mr Kola Okunola (ICT); Mr Asheik Maidugu (Planning and Statistics); Mr Innocent Ohagwa (Human Capital Development); Mr Ezra Zubair (Programmes and Policy Monitoring) and Mr Olufemi Faniyi (Team Lead Tax Operations Group).

A few days later, FIRS chairman issued another memo to announce the appointment of new directors and a special assistant.

The new appointees included Director, Finance and Accounts, Ahmed Musa; Special Assistant Technical to the Executive Chairman, Mustapha Ndajumo; Director, Internal Affairs and Efficiency, Ahmed Ndannusa; Director, Communication and Liaison Department, Abdulahi Ismaila; and Acting Director, Executive Chairman’s Office, Aisha Mohammed.

Aside from the new appointees not being members of staff of FIRS, they were reported to be Nupes, the same ethnic group with the Niger-State born Nami.

It was also observed that Paragraph 10:1(a)(iii) of the FIRS Human Resources Policies and Processes (HRPP) on which the retirement decision was based stated that directors who had attained eight years in the position should be retired.

However, Paragraph 1.8.1 of the HRPP said whatever was written in the book was subject to the amendment of extant circulars.

“All extant circulars, directives, notices, orders and other documents amending, giving further details and/or explanation to the provisions of this policy document hereto shall form an integral part of the HRPP and shall be binding,” it added.

One of the retired directors alleged that the chairman had a plan hence his decision not to comply with the government circular which had already suspended the paragraph 10.

“Without taking recognition of the circular, the chairman just asked all the nine directors to retire. He quoted Paragraph 10, but ignored the Paragraph 1,” he added.

Our correspondent learnt that there was disquiet among some of the senior staff members who were sidelined for the contract staff.

HRPP forbade appointment of contract workers where the available slots could be filled by experienced workers in the system.

Paragraph 2.22 of the rule stated that contract appointment should only be made “where the required skills and competence are not available within the service.”

Another retired director claimed that there were 750 chartered accountants in the FIRS.

“You are bringing in a contract worker as an internal auditor, when there are a lot of qualified people in the system? You are bringing somebody from outside as the director of finance and account, when there are many chartered accountants? You are bringing in people as directors of communication and chairman’s office, when there are people with the skills.

“The danger is that you are the executive chairman and you brought in your friends to man critical positions. You want to control the entire financial transactions of the organisation. They will take direct instruction from you without questions. They could collude with you to defraud the organisation. Where is transparency, accountability, integrity in these appointments?” he queried.

A retired director said the appointments also negated the federal character policy.

“He appointed four directors as contract staff; no advertisement of the positions, nothing. No other ethnic group was represented in violation of the federal character policy. They are all his allies,” he added.

The directors lamented that they were retired “unceremoniously and illegally” despite having several years before attaining 35 years in service.

They demanded that the FIRS chairman acknowledge his wrongs and remedy the situation.

FIRS, however, said its actions were not in defiance of the presidential directives suspending tenure policy in the Federal Civil Service.

Director of Communications and Liaison Department, Mr Abdullahi Ismaila, in a statement, said the government parastatal acted within its powers.

He said, “FIRS is not part of the civil service, but part of public service. FIRS, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, are part of public service, not civil service. This informs, for instance, NNPC, CAC, whenever there is a leadership change, most of the senior officers are usually retired to pave way for their subordinates because they have separate boards to authorise such actions.

“FIRS is governed under the FIRS Establishment Act 2007, which has given it autonomy to hire and fire without recourse to Civil Service Rules, but to its own rule and therefore not part of civil service.”

Ismaila said FIRS was only accountable to its board, adding that the retirement of the directors was approved by the board.

He noted that the board was also kind enough not to recover the salaries and allowances earned by directors who had spent above the legal eight years.

According to him, FIRS will only be bound by the Public Services Rule for any matter not covered by FIRS Human Resource Policies and Processes.

“The retirement of the directors by FIRS board is in accordance with the HRPP and in public interest and to create vacancies for the existing staff of the service who have remained stagnated,” he added.

On the appointment of the new directors and special assistants, Ismaila said due process was followed, adding that they were contract officers engaged for two years to carry out specific assignments.

“The four directors are employed on contract basis in line with Section 2.22 of the FIRS HRPP and approved by the FIRS board.

Ismaila, however, declined comment on the ethnic group of the new appointees and did not respond to enquiry on it.

A former director said FIRS was a Federal Government parastatal and circulars by the government remained binding on it, hence Eyo-Ita’s decision to copy FIRS in the 2016 memo.

Director of Communications, Head of Service, Mrs Olawunmi Ogunmosule, said she had not joined the unit when the memo was issued.

According to her, whenever ministries, departments and agencies are copied in memos, it means the document is for their “information or action.”

She referred our correspondent to the overseeing ministry.

Director of Information, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Hassan Dodo, asked our correspondent to write a letter and bring it to his office in Abuja.

“I hope to see the permanent secretary with the questions. At his discretion, he either answers them or he refers the questions to a director to do that,” he wrote in a text message.

Punch

Governors across the 36 states of the federation have adopted various measures in efforts to prevent and contain the spread of the coronavirus in their states.

However some of these governors have exhibited excesses in terms of their actions and measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus.

 

Rivers: Wike demolishes hotels, arrests pilots

Trending and an issue still discussed on various media platforms is the demolition of two hotels by Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike.

He supervised the demolition of the hotels due to violation of his lockdown order aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus in the state.

The affected hotels are Prodest Hotel in Alode and Etemeteh Hotel in Onne both in Eleme Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

These buildings were demolished three days after Wike directed officials of the local government Task Force to identify hotels operating during the lockdown for demolition.

But Wike has come under heavy attacks and criticisms over the action which many have described as dictatorial with no regard for the rule of law.

Wike had earlier arrested some pilots of Caverton for flying into the state in violation of his lockdown order but later freed them following mounting pressures.

He equally arrested some oil workers who were later released.

In Kano, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje shutdown a 320-tonne Tiamin Rice mill as part of measures to prevent and contain spread of coronavirus.

According to the notice of closure, the government said it took the decision, following “complaints of air pollution” which could aggravate the condition of coronavirus patients at its isolation centre which is situated about 20 kilometers away.

But the management of the rice factory which viewed the claim of government as unfounded and frivolous approached a Federal High Court, Abuja for redress.

Although, the court in its verdict delivered on the matter by Mr Okon Abang ordered the state government to unseal the rice mill but that has not been complied with, sparking concerns of executive excesses by the governor.

The governor was also seen on the road at a Kano border personally enforcing interstate movement restriction and supervised the arrest of passengers.

 

Akwa Ibom: Emmanuel shuts down livestock markets

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State on his part ordered the immediate closure of all livestock markets in the state as part of measures to contain spread of Covid-19

Secretary to State the Government/Chairman Cocid-19 Management Committee, Mr Emmanuel Ekuwem, who disclosed in a statement, however did not mention any alternative arrangement for both traders and buyers of meat products.

Ekuwem explained that the governor directed that no new consignment of livestock should be allowed into the state until further notice, adding that security operatives have been ordered to ensure full compliance as defaulters would be prosecuted.

 

Kaduna: El-Rufai demolishes inn, climbs truck for enforcement

Kaduna State Governor, Mr Nasir El-Rufai demolished a popular Kaduna inn, GM Car Park and Relaxation Centre amidst the Covid-19 lockdown.

The governor in what many described as ‘overzealousness’ was seen climbing a truck on the Kaduna borders recently to enforce restriction of interstate movement while some of his aides stood by.

 

Kogi: Bello’s 14-day quarantine order of NCDC officials

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State ordered that a visiting team from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) who were in the state to support its Covid-19 Task Force be quarantined for 14 days before they could do anything in the state.

This forced the visiting NCDC officials to return to Abuja without achieving their mission.

The action of the governor has generated mixed reactions with some describing it as exhibition of executive excesses while others said his action was in order.

Daily Trust

Federal government has rolled out new set of palliatives to help Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) survive the economic fallouts of the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.

Under the scheme, government will give 80 percent discount to all MSMEs that registered their product on the electronic platform of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) unveiled on Friday.

NAFDAC Automated Product Administration and Monitoring System (NAPAMS), is a software solution for the regulation and control of the importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of foods, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, detergents and bottled water in Nigeria.

Apart from the 80 percent discount it approved for the businesses, the federal government has also granted zero tariffs for the first 200 MSMEs to register on the agency’s platform.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo reeled our the incentives on Friday at the virtual unveiling of palliatives for MSMEs by NAFDAC, tasking other agencies of the federal government to come up with palliatives for the MSMEs.

He unveiled the electronic registration platform alongside Director General of NAFDAC, Mrs Mojisola Adeyeye and representatives of other federal agencies regulating micro, small and medium enterprises in the country.

After unveiling the electronic registration platform, Osinbajo said: “These palliatives reflect the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s determination to support MSMEs and the priority the federal government places on small businesses.”

He listed NAFDAC’s palliatives to include e-registration of MSMEs/products at 80% discounted rate over a period of six months; zero tariffs for the first 200 micro and small businesses to register on the e-platform and waiver on administrative charges for overdue late renewal of expired licenses of micro/small businesses products for a period of 90 days.

As businesses across the world confront the disruptions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, the vice president noted that the federal government would continue to adopt and implement practical measures to ensure that the projected growth in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector is not seriously affected by the development.

Mr Osinbajo explained that the response of the federal government was not just “to give succour and assistance to existing MSMEs, but also ensure that there is practical and active fillip to new MSMEs so that the growth of this sector is not discouraged by the current economic trauma.

“This is our moment and the government of Nigeria and its regulatory agencies are prepared to back MSMEs and other businesses that are prepared for the innovative and interesting times that lie ahead of us”, he added.

Osinbajo explained some steps the federal government had been taking to protect private investments especially small businesses in the country, saying the Buhari administration had from the begining of the health cum economic crisis taken strategic decisions aimed at insulating businesses from imminent collapse.

Just after the first index case of the disease was discovered in Nigeria and before the lockdowns began, he said Buhari put together strategic teams to immediately determine the likely impact of the disruptions to the economy and what the country’s immediate and medium to long term approach should be.

The vice president explained that the vulnerability of MSMEs to the severe shocks that were to follow was priority at every consideration of the issues.

“But perhaps even our best projections could hardly have predicted the massive economic disruptions, the unprecedented number of business failures, job losses of what began as a health challenge and the ensuing lockdowns would cause especially to MSMEs, who, of course as you know, are the backbone of our entire economy.

“As the president has repeatedly urged, we have no excuse not to be one of the most productive and prolific economies in the world. Our hope is to achieve this aim in the incredible numbers of MSMEs that we have,” the VP noted.

He described the launch of NAFDAC palliatives for MSMEs as “a thoughtful and strategic response to the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“These are all indicators of the new spirit of NAFDAC and foretaste of the support MSMEs stand to enjoy in wading through these trying times. But this is not a new undertaking for us. It is merely an extension or intensification of the federal government’s long-standing commitment to MSMEs.”

The vice president urged regulatory agencies involved in the MSMEs sector “to improve on their service delivery. We expect to see from them in terms of innovation, adaptability in the next few months and through the challenges that we will be seeing in business environment.”

He, therefore, said: “I am sure that NAFDAC, SMEDAN, BOI and all of our MDAs concerned with the MSMEs see this period as one when we must work with the MSMEs, identify with them, and must be quick on the job to ensure we are able to resolve all of the problems that they have.”

Thisday

 

 

 

Major opposition parties in Ondo State have kicked against the explanation made by Ondo State government under Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu over the controversial N4.3b found in a secret bank account, opened over 10 years ago.

In a statement made available to journalists, yesterday, in Akure by the state chairman of African Action Congress (AAC), Mr. Israel Ayeni, the present administration was accused of misappropriation of public funds.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had earlier made a 10- year bank interest analysis, affirming that the money had yielded N10.7b interest.

Ayeni called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and all related commissions to synergise with the state Assembly to properly investigate the matter.

He insisted that they must unveil the secret intentions behind the discovered fund, saying: “The account, said to be traced to former Governor Olusegun Kokumo Agagu-led administration of over a decade from now is questionable.

AAC also challenges the competence of the state’s Accountant General, as well as the Office of the Commissioner for Finance for not providing all necessary documents bearing all transactions made with the account.”

Aside demanding the interest accrued to date, he said: “When and what was the purpose of opening the ‘secret account?’ Who are the signatories, and why was hidden, even from the legislative arm?…”

The state PDP Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Zadok Akintoye, flayed the state government for not being transparent with the account, saying it hid it from the general public’s knowledge, when first discovered.

He said: “Investigation by our party has shown that the Akeredolu-led government is being economical with the truth and has violated the law with its intentions not to disclose the receipt of such funds, until it was recently probed by the Ondo State House of Assembly…”

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo, had earlier cleared the air immediately the Accountant-General and the Commissioner for Finance were summoned by the Assembly.

Ojogo said it was the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Wale Akinterinwa, who discovered the hidden account.

“At inception of this administration, concerted efforts were made to take a comprehensive inventory of all assets and liabilities of government, which include liquidity status. This exercise, modestly conducted without the usual noise, was aimed at avoiding sensationalisation and needless acrimony. In this regard, all development partners of the government, including banks, rendered highly commendable forms of assistance,” he said.

Ojogo disclosed that the account and the deposited fund, which was promptly reported, were discovered through the vigilance and financial intelligence of the Finance Commissioner.

He said the record of the new recovery has also reflected in the records of the state for proper accountability and transparency.

Meanwhile, the former Commissioner for Finance, whose regime opened the account, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, has absolved the current administration of the crime, blaming it on improper handing over after the court judgment that sacked the administration of the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu in 2009.

Alasoadura flayed the bank for not calling the new administration’s attention to the account, since the government operated accounts in all banks operating in the state, as a policy.

 

Guardian