‘I funded Oyedele-led tax reform panel with N5bn’ — Nami reacts to TheCable story on ‘suspicious’ approvals

Muhammad Nami, former chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has spoken on TheCable’s report on his belated approval of over N11 billion for payments.

Nami, in a statement issued on Thursday, confirmed that the reported sum was part of N16 billion worth of “outstanding commitments”.

He said the N5 billion paid to the Joint Tax Board was earmarked to fund the activities of the presidential committee on tax and fiscal policy reforms which is led by Taiwo Oyedele, a former fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Although Nami added that “no payment was made by the service after the announcement of my pre-retirement leave”, TheCable had only reported that he made approvals.

“Fundamentally: It is important to note that no payment was made by the Service after the announcement of my pre-retirement leave as claimed by this story. An approval for payment in the Service is one step of a journey to payment. It is the custom that when a new Executive Chairman resumes office, he would review, validate and make final authorisation before any payments can be made,” the statement reads in part.

“It is important to note for the record that all decisions reached and extant liabilities/ commitments of the Service during my stay in office are contained in the handover notes I made available to my successor, Mr. Zacch Adedeji. He is fully briefed on everything. For clarity the items listed in the Cable Newspaper Report were part of the N16 billion outstanding commitments contained in our handover note.

“The N5 billion paid to Joint Tax Board was paid to fund the activities of Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reforms two months before I left office. It was paid after we received a letter to that effect from the office of Mr. President signed by Zacch Adedeji himself.”

Nami also spoke on his foreign trip after his sack, saying the report “attempts to portray a picture that I hurriedly left the country on September 16th”.

TheCable had however reported that Nami travelled out of the country “following the approval of the payments on September 16” — and not that he travelled on the date.

Defending his time in office, Nami said “every decision” he made was “within the ambit of the law and within the lawful powers I exercised then as executive chairman”.

Nami, who was sacked on September 14 and replaced with Zacchaeus Adedeji, added that despite inheriting N1.4 billion at the FIRS, he left “N129 billion in the purse of the service”.

TheCable understands that the N129 billion was for the construction of a new FIRS headquarters and it was approved by the previous government.

BREAKDOWN OF THE PAYMENTS

According to documents seen by TheCable, the former FIRS chairman approved N5,628,496,823.04, $863,293.00 and £8,780 for express payment to 196 beneficiaries — all in one day.

Nami approved the payment of N1,409,950,625.00 to 807 nominees for a ‘Business Case for Strategic Leadership’ retreat which is billed to take place in November 2023 while N250,325,000 was greenlit for FIRS Data Mining Management and Analytics in Taxation Course.

The ex-FIRS chairman also approved N221,311,840.00 to be paid to Odey Jacob & 611 others for “Skill Development and Management Improvement Workshop Training”; N42,398,000.00 was earmarked as payment to Mawo Dav Printing Nig. Ltd for the “production of letterhead papers & call cards” while another N36,513,718.75 was approved for Gebos Nig. Ltd — also for the production of letterhead papers and call cards.

Nami appropriated N81,488,127.00 to himself — and nine others — as estacode for a study visit to the Inland Revenue of Malaysia while N54,979,390 was approved to CDP Partnership Ltd as payment for engagement as a consultant for “stage I &II quantity surveying services”.

In total, over N591 million was approved as estacode payment for official trips made by staff to Rwanda, Kenya, and Morocco, among other countries.

The former FIRS boss approved over one billion as payment for the training of staff on tax disputes, capital market operations, and tax evasion strategies, among other modules.

As an engagement fee for consultancy work in respect of “education and enlightenment of civil society organisations”, Nami approved over N173 million to Juzor & Company Ltd. while Jiop Azzy Ltd was listed to receive over N132 million for the same purpose.

Nami also reportedly 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 STATEMENT IN FULL

My rejoinder to the Cable Story: “Ex-FIRS Boss Nami Approved N11bn ‘Suspicious’ Payments After His Exit

My attention has been drawn to a mischievous story by the Cable Newspaper claiming that I made approvals of over N11 billion after taking my pre-retirement leave. Nothing can be further from the truth. The entire story was sensationally written with mischief that took the ordinary events of my work out of context with the intent to tarnish my image.

First and foremost, I want to categorically state that after my exit as FIRS Executive Chairman, I made no such approvals as claimed in the report.

Fundamentally: It is important to note that no payment was made by the Service after the announcement of my pre-retirement leave as claimed by this story. An approval for payment in the Service is one step of a journey to payment. It is the custom that when a new Executive Chairman resumes office, he would review, validate and make final authorisation before any payments can be made.

It is important to note for the record that all decisions reached and extant liabilities/ commitments of the Service during my stay in office are contained in the handover notes I made available to my successor, Mr. Zacch Adedeji. He is fully briefed on everything. For clarity the items listed in the Cable Newspaper Report were part of the N16 billion outstanding commitments contained in our handover note.

The N5 billion paid to Joint Tax Board was paid to fund the activities of Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reforms two months before I left office. It was paid after we received a letter to that effect from the office of Mr. President signed by Zacch Adedeji himself.

The report maliciously attempts to portray a picture that I hurriedly left the country on September 16th after these so called “suspicious approvals” were made. Again, nothing can be further from the truth. If I traveled out of the country on the 16th of September, how then did I attend the handover ceremony with Mr. Zacch on the afternoon of Monday 18th September 2023? That handover ceremony was covered by the media, and can be cross-checked.

It is disappointing to see the Cable, a revered online newspaper attempt to sensationalise events that took place in the ordinary course of work in office, making them seem as if they were done in bad faith.

I want to categorically state that every decision I made within the time of my stay in office was within the ambit of the law and within the lawful powers I exercised then as Executive Chairman.

I inherited only N1.4 billion in the purse of the FIRS when I assumed office. I left N129 billion in the purse of the Service when I left.

Muhammad Nami