President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed William Babatunde Fowler as Acting Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) until his appointment was confirmed by the Senate.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
In the statement, Buhari also appointed Aliyu Yahaya Gusau as Director-General , Budget Office of the Federation.
He added that Gusau’s appointment was with effect from August 18, 2015 and was for a term of four years, renewable for another four years, unless he attained the retirement age of 60 years or completed 35 years of pensionable service.
He replaces Bright Okogu who has retired after serving his two terms of four years each.
Fowler was the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue from 2005 to 2014.
He had his higher education in the United States where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Business Administration degree from the California State University.
Before joining the service of the Lagos State Government, Fowler worked in the banking sector for about 20 years with long stints at Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited and Chartered Bank.
Under his leadership, the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue reportedly achieved a sharp increase in internally generated revenue from an average of N3.6. billion per month in January 2006, to an average of about N20.5 billion per month in 2013.
Fowler, who holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree of the Irish International University, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Business Management Association of the United Kingdom.
