Uche Usim, Abuja
Ahead of his plans to realize the 2020 revenue target of N8.5 trillion, the Executive Chairman of the newly constituted board of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammadu Nami, has begun implementing a massive reorganisation blueprint that has seen the transfer of over 100 staff, cutting across various cadre, especially directors.
However, the move did not come as a surprise to many observers because Nami, shortly after his inaugural speech on January 16, hinted of his plans to restructure the Service as encapsulated in his 13-point agenda.
The shake-up, it was gathered, was to move staff to meet fresh challenges, bring their creativity to bear, break new grounds and eventually eliminate redundancy occasioned by monotonous work pattern.
“I think it’s a normal process and procedure for a new boss to move staff around and put them where he feels they can function optimally once he studies the staff organogram. It is rare for a new boss to inherit and adopt the template his predecessor operated with, especially when he wants to up the ante and achieve higher targets. This is one agency that is self-assessing. If you’re doing well, the revenue figures are there to amplify that and if not, it also shows. The head is at liberty to cobble the agency the way he deems fit within the law to realize set objectives. Fowler did it. The one before him did it. It’s about assembling a team of like minds to achieve results. N8.5 trillion as revenue target is no minced meat. It’s a tall order in an economy like ours with all its challenges. “To me, it should be expected. It is normal”, a senior staff told Daily Sun.
Part of the massive shake up at the FIRS saw some directors move up the ladder, while one was relieved of his duties and a fresh one injected into the Service.
Daily Sun learnt that those affected include; Aishiekh Maidugu, Director, Planning Reporting and Statistics, now the Special Assistant, Special Duties, to the Executive Chairman; Femi Oluwaniyi, Director Debt Management, now Transition Lead, Domestic Taxes Group and the Coordinating Director, Compliance Enforcement Group, Cyriacus Ekechi, who became the Transition Lead Compliance Support Group.