Headlines
Fowler Out as Buhari Names Muhammad Nami New FIRS Chairman
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday named a tax consultant, Mr Muhammad Nami, as the new chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
The appointment came as the tenure of Mr Babatunde Fowler expired.
Buhari, who approved the composition of a new board for the tax agency, asked Fowler to hand over the FIRS’s affairs to the most senior director, pending the confirmation of the new board by the Senate.
“Mr Muhammad, a well-trained tax, accounting and management professional with highly-rated qualifications and professional practice and licences from relevant professional bodies, has almost three decades of practical work experience in auditing, tax management and advisory and management services to clients in the banking, manufacturing, services and public sectors as well as non-profit organisations,” a statement by Buhari’s media aide, Mr Garba Shehu, said on Monday.
The statement added, “He is an expert in rendering advisory support services to investors in respect of new business start-ups and management of existing business.
“He has also continuously rendered outsourced services to clients in trading, service and manufacturing sectors of the nation’s economy.”
The Presidency said Nami graduated from Bayero University, Kano, in 1991 and obtained a Master’s in Business in 2004 from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Buhari had on August 20, 2015, nominated Fowler to chair the FIRS for four-year tenure.
The Senate confirmed his appointment December 9, 2015, a term that ran out officially on December 8.
Fowler on Monday handed over to the Coordinating Director, Domestic Taxes Group at the FIRS, Abiodun Aina, a few hours after his replacement was announced.
A statement issued by the Head, Communications and Servicom Department at the FIRS, Wahab Gbadamosi, said Fowler handed over at 6.39pm inside the boardroom of the agency.
He thanked President Buhari for the privilege given him to serve the nation.
According to him, there is nothing automatic as a second term, noting that change is the only thing that is constant in life.
“There is nothing automatic about having a second term. Some of you might say it’s a big surprise. It is a privileged to serve one’s country. And if you have the privilege of serving your country for one term and you believe you have done your best, you have to thank God for that,” Fowler said.
He also said, “I hope in leaving the FIRS, I’ve left behind something positive that each and every one of you can build on.”
Aina promised to manage the service in an effective manner during the period he would be acting as the FIRS chairman.
He told Fowler, “You have done a lot within the space of four years. You have transformed the FIRS. You have modernised it. There have been a lot of innovations. And under you we have achieved great heights.”
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
