Nigerians List Fowler’s Successes As FIRS Boss Answers Kyari’s Query Today

By Abimbola Johnson On Aug 19, 2019

Babatunde-Fowler — Babatunde Fowler, chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)

Ahead of his summon to answer questions on the variances in tax collections in the country since 2015, Nigerians have stormed online microblogging and social networking service, Twitter to list the successes of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Babatunde Fowler.

In a leaked letter titled ‘Re: Budgeted FIRS Collections and Actual Collections,’ the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari said there are variances between budgeted collections and the actual collections made by the agency.

The letter was a response to an initial report on tax collections sent to the President on July 26 by Fowler.

The Presidency, in reaction to the letter, invited the FIRS boss today, Monday, to submit a comprehensive variance analysis explaining the reasons for the variances between budgeted and actual collections for each main tax item for each of the years 2015 to 2018.

In reaction to the invitation, some twitter users have defended the FIRS boss’ achievement since his appointment and listed out some of his achievements. See some tweets as gathered by THE WHISTLER below:

Fowler's leadership has transformed FIRS tax function with modern technology.

He made tax processes including e-Stamping, e-Registration, e-Filing, e-Payment, e-Receipt and e-TCC processes more efficient and user-friendly.#mondaythoughts #fowler
— zeenab (@zeenabT8) August 19, 2019

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In the tax administrations section under Fowler, Nigeria moved up positively by 25 points during the period and it is expected that it will further move up the rankings by the time the review for 2019 is published.#MondayMorning #fowler
— zeenab (@zeenabT8) August 19, 2019

In Nigeria for the first time, the Federal Government paid all outstanding PAYE tax liabilities owed by Federal MDAs from 2002 to 2016, totaling about ₦135 billion to the various State Governments.#mondaythoughts #fowler
— zeenab (@zeenabT8) August 19, 2019

under whose leadership the agency has been able to achieve?

1.The growth of FIRS collections rose by 53.81% from ₦3.30 trillion in 2016 to ₦5.32 trillion in 2018, the highest collection ever in the history of the agency;
— Proud Mary (@mary_marysimon) August 19, 2019

2.There was also a remarkable boost in the tax base from 10million to 20million tax payers with the potential for an increase of up to 45 million in 2019;

3.Growth in the IGR of States rose by over 46.11% from ₦800.02 billion in 2016 to ₦1.16 trillion in 2018;
— Proud Mary (@mary_marysimon) August 19, 2019

4.Automated tax processes such as the e-Stamping, e-Registration, e-Filing, e-Payment and a host of others were introduced to make the entire process more efficient and user-friendly.
— Proud Mary (@mary_marysimon) August 19, 2019

Fowler was appointed by Buhari on August 18, 2015. His appointment was confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday, December 9.

ABBA KYARI babatunde fowler federal inland revenue service firs MUHAMMADU BUHARI