Acting Executive Chairman,
Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Abiodun Aina, on Monday, said Tunde
Fowler stepped on toes during his first term as the chairman.
Aina said this at the handover
ceremony on Monday after President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Muhammad M. Nami
as the new FIRS chairman
Aina, who spoke in glowing terms
about Fowler, thanked him for transforming FIRS even as he admitted that he
stepped on toes during his term.
Aina said: “Thank you very much
Mr, Chairman, my boss, my brother, and my good friend Sir. As you hand over to
me I say what am I running? To have fought a good fight. You laid a very solid
foundation
“Within the intervening period
that I will be holding fort,
I promise you to steady the ship,
by the grace of God. You have done a lot within the space of four years. You
have transformed FIRS. You have modernised it. There has been a lot of
innovations and under you, we have achieved great heights.
“When we look back in 2015, the
section was about N3. 3 trillion. At the end of 2018, with your leadership, we
were able to move to N5. 32 Trillion. That was the highest collection ever, in
the annals FIRS. You brought dynamism to FIRS.
“You introduced so many
programmes that repositioned FIRS: Tax Amnesty Programme implemented VAIDS,
increased the number of taxpayers nationwide to over 20 million in a space of
four years, began placing lien on the account of taxpayers to ensure that each
capable corporate taxpayers pay his/her dues, fostered collaboration amongst
the states through the Joint Tax Board, began robust information sharing amongst
states, launched the JTB TIN so that states might have access to data for tax
purposes, deepened FIRS’ embrace of technology for tax purposes and many more.
“But like you also mentioned in
your speech, change is usually resisted. And so you stepped on toes. That is
normal. Leadership is not a popularity contest. And I’m sure you know that very
well. And that was why you were focused on carrying out the mandate that was
given to you. I can tell you on behalf of my colleagues here that we will miss
you. You have left a very big shoe behind. We will do all we can to ensure that
we will keep the flag flying.
“Thank you very much for what you
have done for us.”
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