Why Fowler’s Tenure was Not Renewed – TheNigerialawyer

The Presidency has explained why the tenure of former Chairman
of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler, was
not renewed saying the former chief revenue collector failed to
meet set targets and generate enough revenue for the country.

Fowler, whose term of office expired on December 9, 2019, was
replaced by Mr. Muhammad Nami.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam
Garba Shehu, while speaking with journalists at the weekend in
Abuja, also said that it was not a scandal for the federal
government to borrow more money to finance infrastructure in the
country.

He explained that what is commonly used to adjudge countries if
they have over borrowed is the debt to GDP ratio, adding that
Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio is very low even among West African
countries.
He noted that at about 20 per cent, ‘it is not a threat’, adding
that Japan’s GDP debt ratio, it is more than 100 per cent.

Shehu stated: “It is not a scandal to borrow, the bad thing
about borrowing is when you deployed it to your pocket. This has
happened in the past in this country, President Buhari is borrowing
to do railway, to do East-West express way, to do second Niger
bridge, to do Mabilla power, to do Abuja-Kano expressway, to
Ajaokuta-Abuja gas pipeline. These are projects that are beneficial
to the economy, these are basic infrastructure projects, railway,
power, without which this country cannot achieve development.

“So, if you ask me, from my own understanding, the problem we
have in this country is the revenue issue. We have a revenue
problem because we are unable to generate as much money as it is
needed to do more capital infrastructure and also service debt.

“Because of the low revenue earnings, people look at the size of
our debt repayment and they scream. But government is doing
something about this and I’m happy you have seen the change that
has happened in FIRS, give them a chance, let see how they would
perform. Government is optimistic that things will look upward and
the revenue will improve. And once there is inflow that is
sufficient to do a lot of these things, we may not even need to
borrow.”

On the regulation of social media, Shehu said social media has
become a problem for many families because the rights of women and
children are being abused, noting that there was a need to protect
vulnerable members of the society.

He added that there was need for media stakeholders to
collaborate with Minister of Information to formulate the kind of
regulation they want so that government would not be accused of
imposing a regulatory mechanism on the media.

Shehu appealed to media stakeholders to give it serious
consideration and see how the media in the country can work
together with government to find communication solution to purely
communication problem.

He explained that social media regulation was not political,
adding that federal government has no reason to undermine or weaken
the mass media.

According to him, “In country where the mass media are being
suppressed, where there is no freedom of expression and
information, you find out that the media space tends to decline, it
becomes smaller, media houses close down but the irony of what is
happening in the country is that while some civil society groups
are crying here that the freedom of expression is being threaten
and in any case we know why they were shouting because they are
looking for donors abroad who will send in US dollars for the
protection of hate speech, that is basically it is a selfish
thing.”

Shehu said that recently, the federal government licensed about
300 radio stations and it is also processing almost 500 requests
for radio stations, insisting that media cannot be expanded if it
is being oppressed.

He also accused The Punch Newspaper of campaigning against the
reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying, “in fact, the
rate The Punch is doing, PDP doesn’t need a publicity arm, they are
doing an excellent job for them.”

He described The Punch criticism of the president as
uncharitable, stressing that The Punch was shut down for a year by
ex-President Ibrahim Babangida, but noted that The Punch never for
one day stop calling him president or described his administration
as regime.

Sheheu said that under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan,
newspapers were shut down, copies were seized, but it as never
happened under this administration, not for one day.
He said he made bold to say that there is no journalist under the
order of President Muhammadu Buhari that has been detained.

Sheheu argued that the Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele
Sowore is a politician who contested for the presidential position
during the 2019 election, saying that was why he didn’t mention his
name.
He said Sowore was equally detained after he called for an
overthrow of government, which he said is treasonable under the
constitution.
The presidential spokesman accused The Punch of supporting those
calling for overthrow of the administration of Buhari.

He said: “We never said The Punch support a coup to overthrow
this administration, but they are supporting people who have made
that call and I think that’s is not bad that Daily Trust did an
editorial to call them to order. Because the thing is that if there
is a backlash against journalism as a profession in this country,
it is not only Punch who will suffer, other practitioners will
suffer, I’m not issuing a threat that harm can come to
anybody…”

Commenting on the perception of some Nigerians that there is
cabal in the government, Sheu noted that there is no government in
this country that has not accused of being hijacked by cabal.
He said every administration must have a secretariat and every
president must have people who advised, stressing that “It is not a
sin, it is not an offence to have people that you take into your
own confidence.”

He emphasised that in other countries, they call it kitchen
cabinet, but in Nigeria, they are derogatorily termed cabal to
tarnish their good standing.

Subscribe ToNairalaw News!