Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mohammad Nami has said the award given him by the management of LEADERSHIP Group Limited, publishers of LEADERSHIP Newspapers and NATIONAL ECONOMY is in recognition of the hardworking and tireless staff of the service.
Mr Nami made the remarks on Thursday when the management team of the newspaper led by its vice chairman, Chief Mike Okpere, presented him a letter of nomination as LEADERSHIP Public Service Person of the Year 2022, at his Abuja office.
He expressed gladness that he was found worthy of the position, saying it was an award for the FIRS team that are working hard to raise more revenue for the three tiers of government.
Acknowledging that LEADERSHIP Newspaper has become the first point of touch for authentic news, he prayed for the soul of its founding chairman, late Sam Nda-Isaiah, for deepening democracy in Nigeria through the annual lecture.
Nami used the opportunity to highlight some of the reforms and system change that have helped the FIRS to achieve significant result both in revenue generation and staff motivation.
Nami said his tax reform initiatives centered around administrative and operational restructuring; making the service customer-focused; creating a data-centric institution and automation of administrative and operational processes were responsible for the improved revenue collection.
The service had also automated most of the administrative and operational processes. A major leap was the full deployment of the TaxPro Max for end-to-end administration of taxes in June 2021. The module for the automated TCC went live on 1st January 2023 while taxpayers had already downloaded over 1,000 TCCs this year without having to visit FIRS office.
Mr Nami said upon assumption of duty in December 2019, he had to dismantle the range of consultancy syndrome which FIRS was highly notorious for, and hand over the duties of the service to the inhouse staff most of who had been left idle under the previous administration.
Upon assumption of office, Nami said he decided to do things differently when he evaluated the existing system by carrying out test to identify the issues that were sabotaging the system, with solutions implemented.
He said he had to rebuild the system by introducing a lot of reforms internally with a focus on maximum return, with special regard to revenue generation.
“We invested heavily on ICT to raise more taxes. We took stakeholder management and collaboration seriously, including the media to help tell our story and inform the public about our reforms, tell the public to trust government by paying more taxes.
“The entire country relies on us for revenue. We provide over 60 percent of revenue to the three tiers of government. “This award is given to FIRS and the entire staff,” he stated. Nami confirmed his attendance at the award ceremony.
Earlier, vice chairman of LEADERSHIP Group, Chief Mike Okpere, said he was elated to present the letter to the tax boss who emerged LEADERSHIP Public Service Person of the Year 2022 from a highly scrutinized selection process.
“We are proud of you and the reforms you have introduced since your inception of office in 2019. We have seen your exemplary service and your record of unrivalled record as the chairman of FIRS,” Okpere said, while commending Nami’s record success as head of the revenue agency.
“Amid several nominees with excellent credentials, you have been selected for this prestigious award for your bold and unprecedented reform of Nigeria’s tax administration, including the deployment of technology, data and strategic intelligence leading to the highest ever tax revenue collection of N10.1 trillion in 2022 alone,” Okpere said, adding; “The selection board found you most qualified as LEADERSHIP Public Service Person of the year 2022.”
This is the 14th award ceremony to be organised by LEADERSHIP Group Ltd, Nigeria’s most influential newspaper of repute. This year’s edition of the award ceremony is scheduled to hold on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 for official presentation of the award insignia to Nami and 26 other distinguished recipients at the Abuja International Conference Centre at 10.00 am.
