Ex-FIRS boss did ‘the needful’ to successor Zacch Adedeji as corruption allegation surfaces
Muhammad Nami, the former chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) allegedly ‘did the needful’ to his successor Zacchaeus Adedeji, as revealed in a report on alleged financial misdemeanor.
The comment about Nami’s purported ‘involvement’ with Adedeji is attributed to one Jibrin Jibrin, a cousin of former chairman and his alleged enabler in the last-ditch sweep of the FIRS finance. The said Jibrin is an assistant director in the FIRS.
In the report originally published by TheCable, Nami approved N6 billion as payments to several contractors and consultants two days after President Bola Tinubu pronounced him sacked on September 14.
Nami reportedly ‘directed staff of the finance, audit, and internal affairs departments to work on Saturday and Sunday to perfect some financial transactions while files were allegedly moved from the agency’s headquarters to his house, where they were said to have been “backdated and signed”, the report stated.
Nami allegedly “moved about N5 billion to the account of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) from the FIRS account.”
He was also reported to have ordered the FIRS director, finance & accounts to approve the payments.
The said FIRS director reportedly warned Nami Nami of “the potential ripple effects” that may arise from his action but was assured by Jibrin Jibrin that “there was no cause for alarm” as he done “the needful” to Adedeji, while the latter was special assistant on revenue to the president before eventually succeeding him.
Further in the report, Nami in one fell swoop approved N5,628,496,823.04, $863,293.00 and £8,780 for express payment to 196 beneficiaries.
He had approved N1,409,950,625.00 to be paid to 807 nominees for a ‘Business Case for Strategic Leadership’ retreat taking place in November 2023. He similarly approved N250,325,000 to be paid to greenlit for FIRS Data Mining Management and Analytics in Taxation Course.
Nami, at the same time, directed N221,311,840.00 should be paid to Odey Jacob & 611 others for “Skill Development and Management Improvement Workshop Training”; N42,398,000.00 for Mawo Dav Printing Nig. Ltd for the “production of letterhead papers & call cards”, and another N36,513,718.75 for Gebos Nig. Ltd for the production of letterhead papers and call cards.
The former FIRS boss allegedly appropriated N81,488,127.00 to himself and nine others as estacode for a study visit to the Inland Revenue of Malaysia, and he equally approved N54,979,390 to be paid to CDP Partnership Ltd as their consultant fee for “stage I &II quantity surveying services”. The estacode payment for official trips to Rwanda, Kenya, and Morocco, among other countries gulped over N591 million of the FIRS finance.
In the same vein, Nami reportedly approved over one billion naira as payment for the training of staff on tax disputes, capital market operations, and tax evasion strategies, among other modules. Another questionable payment mentioned in the report was N173 million he directed should be paid to Juzor & Company Ltd for “education and enlightenment of civil society organisations”. Another consultant, Jiop Azzy Ltd is to get over N132 million for similar training ostensibly provided to FIRS staff.
“Nami also signed off on the payment of over N100 million to Skymart Capital Trading Ltd, Toplead Consulting Limited and Alim and Associates Limited for consultancy, monitoring and evaluation services”, the report said.
