The chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), Mr. Babatude Fowler is a subject of another secret recruitment scandal as the organisation’s boss again allegedly hired another 400 new staff without due process.
Mr Fowler who was appointed the chairman of the FIRS by President Muhammadu Buhari, on August 20, 2015, is accused of not following due processes such as advertising the positions and getting the necessary approval from relevant authorities including the Federal Characters Commission.
Our investigations revealed that the FIRS boss had earlier in the year hired about 250 top level management staff under questionable circumstances to man zonal offices across the country, before this fresh 400 controversial recruitments.
Investigations revealed that the induction ceremony for the newly recruited staff was secretly done at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Wednesday, June 8, 2016.
Our investigations also showed that those employed included about 30 deputy directors; 90 assistant directors and about 280 senior managers, managers and other cadre officers.
Though our correspondents could not lay hands on the list of the newly recruited staff, it was however gathered that over 40 per cent of the beneficiaries are from Lagos state because the state according to FIRS source “has been marginalised in the FIRS employment over the years”.
“Its like composition for Lagos state” a source at the federal civil service, Abuja said on Wednesday adding that “it is a bonazar for Mr. Fowler.”
Top Presidency sources told our correspondent, on the condition of anonymity that the secrete recruitment exercise which was designed to provided jobs for Mr. Fowler’s cronies, associates and All Progressive Congress (APC) stalwarts has stirred up anger and controversies in government circles and may eventually become a subject of investigations.
“This is not the change we desire as a nation and President Buhari should look into this issue and ensure it is properly addressed. If you look at the case of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recent recruitment scandal, the names of those on the list were children of current ministers and top APC chiefs. This cannot be the change they promise. It must stop,” a top government official told our correspondent, on condition of anonymity.
“The over 200 new staff have been duly documented and they have been issued everything but waiting to resume. As at today, they are staff of FIRS. I can not tell you exactly why they have not resumed. Some people are saying the financial state of FIRS cannot carry the additional burden but we are waiting,” another source said.
“It is very sad that only close associates and family members of Mr Fowlers are those hired by the FIRS under his watch. What this signifies is that the APC government is for selected individuals. There are so many Nigerians searching for jobs and only the children of the connected have jobs. This is unfortunate,” an applicant who spoke to our correspondent, on condition of anonymity lamented.
In a scanty four line response to our correspondent’s inquiries on the questionable recruitments exercise, spokesman for the FIRS Mr. Wahab Gbadamosi said the organisation followed due process in the recruitment exercise.
Mr. Gbadamosi however did not give any further details or named any of the organisation or agency of government that the FIRS got the approval from for the recruitment exercise.
Gbadamosi in the response said “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”.
Source: FrontiersNews
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