I Inherited N1.4bn, Left N129bn In FIRS Account, Says Nami

The immediate past Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Muhammad Nami has said that he inherited N1.4bn when he took over as Chairman of the Service in December 2019 and handed over N129bn to his successor.

Nami said this while reacting to a media report (NOT THE WHISTLER) that he made payments of over N11bn after he was removed as FIRS chairman by President Bola Tinubu through pre-retirement leave.

Faulting the report, he said there was no payment of over N11bn after taking his pre-retirement leave.

He said, “Nothing can be further from the truth. The entire story was sensationally written with mischief that took the ordinary events of my work out of context with the intent to tarnish my image.

“First and foremost, I want to categorically state that after my exit as FIRS Executive Chairman, I made no such approvals as claimed in the report.

“Fundamentally, it is important to note that no payment was made by the Service after the announcement of my pre-retirement leave as claimed by this story.

“An approval for payment in the Service is one step of a journey to payment. It is the custom that when a new Executive Chairman resumes office, he would review, validate and make final authorisation before any payments can be made.

“It is important to note for the record that all decisions reached and extant liabilities/ commitments of the Service during my stay in office are contained in the handover notes I made available to my successor, Mr. Zacch Adedeji.”

According to him, the N11bn claimed to have been paid by him was part of the N16bn outstanding commitments contained in his handover note.

He added that the N5bn paid to Joint Tax Board was released to fund the activities of the Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reforms two months before he left office.

“It was paid after we received a letter to that effect from the office of Mr. President signed by Zacch Adedeji himself.

“The report maliciously attempts to portray a picture that I hurriedly left the country on September 16th after these so called ‘suspicious approvals’ were made.

“Again, nothing can be further from the truth. If I traveled out of the country on the 16th of September, how then did I attend the handover ceremony with Mr. Zacch on the afternoon of Monday 18th September 2023? That handover ceremony was covered by the media, and can be cross-checked.

“I want to categorically state that every decision I made within the time of my stay in office was within the ambit of the law and within the lawful powers I exercised then as Executive Chairman.

“I inherited only N1.4bn in the purse of the FIRS when I assumed office. I left N129bn in the purse of the Service when I left,” he added.