President Buhari Summons Babatunde Fowler Over Tax Revenue Decline

President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, to the Presidential Villa today to explain tax collection variations between 2015 and 2018.

Specifically, President Buhari in a letter alleged variations in budgeted collections and actual takings reported by the agency within the period.

The query was conveyed under the heading: Re: Budgeted FIRS Collections and Actual Collections, with reference number SH/COS/08/5/A/301.

It was sent to Fowler on August 8 by Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, in response to an initial report on tax collections he (Fowler) forwarded to the presidency on July 26, 2019 marked FIRS/EC/CWP/0249/027.

In the letter, the president directed Fowler to explain variations by providing a “comprehensive variance analysis” for each tax item between 2015 and 2018.

“The letter specifically raised concerns over the collections from 2015 to 2017, describing them as “worse than the collections between 2012 and 2014.”

The FIRS boss was also requested to respond to the query by today, January 19.