FIRS Chairman, Nami Denies Attack On Fowler, Dismisses Own Interview

Muhammad Nami, the Chairman of the Federal (Board) Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, has denied his reported attack on his predecessor, Babatunde Fowler. Nami made the denial in an Easter message he sent to staff of the revenue collection agency.

He mentioned in the message that contrary to PREMIUM TIMES report, he didnt join issues with the previous management led by Fowler.

The PREMIUM TIMES publication of April 12, titled FIRS under Fowler virtually collapsed, I had to rebuild it from scratch had quoted Nami as saying his first 100 days were challenging because he had to build the entire structure of the service again from the scratch .

Also attributed to him (Nami) is the claim that the FIRS had keeled over before he assumed its leadership, and that he faced a daunting task of piecing together the pieces. More so, the report described Nami as having a penchant for criticising his predecessor.

However, the FIRS boss denied criticising Fowler. In his special message seen by this medium, Nami said: I urge you to discountenance recent publications which alleged that I joined issues with the past management of the service. Such blatant allegation did not come from me and it is not a reflection of the mood and spirit of the present committed, focused, and hardworking management team. He further urged the staff not to give chance to rabble-rousers to derail us from our resolve to put in place a system that we can all be proud of in the long run.

It is unknown what prompted the denial, but several sources within the FIRS said Nami incurred a backlash following the interview marking his first 100 days in office.

The disavowal, which he didnt notify the newspapers about, is face-saving. We thought he (Nami) had stopped the blame game until this surfaced, said a FIRS top shot who pleaded anonymity for fear of retribution.