BARRING any last minute hitch, the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Mohammed Nami, would be making an appearance before the Senate Committee on Public Petitions to answer questions bothering the alleged recruitment scandal at the tax agency.

Nami had been accused of favouring his Nupe relatives by appointing them coordinating directors in the Service.

But Nami argued that the retirement of the directors and appointment of new ones did not contravene the Civil Service rules.

It added that their appointments followed due process, and are in line with the extant laws of the service.

Last May, a petition was submitted to the Committee by aggrieved directors who have been up in arms with the management of the service since their “untimely” retirement.

In the petition, the retired directors reaffirmed their position that their retirement was untimely, and happened “in violation of laid down government policies on retirement and recruitment of director cadre staff by any agency of the federal government”.

Unfortunately, the petition has not been attended to “because of the lockdown imposed by COVID-19”, a source at the National Assembly said.

“(But) the petition will soon be attended to by the committee as leaders of the Senate have been asking for it to be brought forward,” the source said.

The Senate would be looking at six issues when it reconvenes from recess.

The first will be whether FIRS, under Nami, truly appointed four contract staff, namely: Ahmed Musa, Mustapha Ndajumo, Ahmed Ndanusa and Abdullahi Ismaila – who are all of Nupe extraction without following due process.

The committee will also be determining how they subsequently became substantive directors of FIRS within a record period of four months.

Tied to the above is the appropriateness of their appointments into an organisation like FIRS with a retinue of qualified staff available to fill the positions they were appointed into.

Also for determination by the Senate committee is whether the provisions of the Human Resources Policies and Procedures, HRPP, was adhered to in the consummation of the contract appointment, and subsequent statutory elevation to the position of directors.

The subsisting policy and regulation on which the directors were allegedly retired by Nami and his recruitment of new staff to replace the retired directors were the issues at stake.

While the retired directors said that Nami relied on an old civil service rule, which had been suspended to remove them, Nami, on the other hand, said his decision to retire the directors and hire new staff to replace them followed a decision taken by the Board of the agency in March 2020.

But the unlawfully retired directors seem to have a solid argument behind their claim on untimely retirement, and are favoured by extant rules, regulations and policy of the federal government, as well as the FIRS internal regulations on staff recruitment.

“A recent appointment of new directors by the Federal Internal Revenue Service was done in violation of public service rules. The tax agency, under its new chairman, Mohammed Nami, recruited four directors in March, but the positions were not advertised as required by federal rules to allow qualified Nigerians to compete. They also violated an internal regulation of the FIRS that would have seen qualified in-house staff take the posts,” a recent online newspaper publication said.

It was learnt that since the retirement and employment of the four new directors, and reassignment of four others initially retired but re-commissioned as consultants have bred bad blood amongst staff of the tax agency.

“There is so much tension and fear amongst staff now, no one can speak his or her mind freely anymore for fear of being labelled anti Nami. Working in FIRS is akin not to working for a Gestapo organisation where everything is done in secrecy and hush hush. It’s like someone is permanently watching and eavesdropping you,” a staff source, who spoke on the grounds of anonymity, said.
The source added that morale and productivity have nose-dived amongst staff.
“Staff now spend their time sitting behind their desk just brooding over the toxic working environment the agency now provides,” the source added.
Nigerian Pilot contacted the director, Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, on the matter, requesting for a copy of the FIRS’ Human Resources Policies and Processes.
Ahmed argued that the retirement of the directors and appointment of new ones did not contravene the Civil Service rules.
He added that their appointments followed due process and are in line with the extant laws of the service.
“It is not true that the retirement of the directors contravened the Civil Service rules. The fact of the matter is that Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, is not a part of the Civil Service, even though it is a public service. It thus operates like its sister organisations NNPC, CBN, CAC, etc. The Act establishing it gives it autonomy to hire and fire.
“Moreover, the eight years terminal period is provided for in the FIRS Human Resources Policies and Processes Section 10.1(a). The retirement of the directors is, therefore, in line with the HRPP of the Service which was approved by the Board. It is also in public interest and to create vacancies for the existing staff who have remained stagnated.
“The four appointed directors are not consultants. Yes, they are contract staff, and as contract staff, they were employed on the strength of the provision of the FIRS HRPP Section 2.22, and their appointments were approved by the Board. Their appointments followed due process and are in line with the extant laws of the Service. It is hoped that this explanation will put the matter to rest for good,” Ahmed responded.

Section 2.22 on Contract Appointment states: (i) Contract appointment shall only be made where the required skills and competence are not available within the Service. (ii) the appointment must be justified by the relevant office/department making the request and subject.