It was the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Kingsley Moghalu, a seasoned development economist of international pedigree, intellectual and politician – he ran for the presidency in the 2019 general elections – that listed three things Nigeria must prioritize to rescue the country’s economy from the doldrums. The first, possibly because of its importance and centrality, is for the country to institutionalize effective and efficient taxation as the country’s main source of revenue rather than depend on oil as the country had done over the decades. This is mainly because the government suffers economic backlash whenever the price and fortunes of oil fluctuate in the international market.
This has become a regular occurrence, especially now that the world economy has been limping due to the shutdown of socio-economic life to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Moghalu also called for government to make savings its priority rather than engage in populist spending – popularly called White Elephant, and to drastically cut the cost of governance as well as make huge investment in skills, education and healthcare, among other recommendations.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, from the inception of his administration, emphasized the need to wean Nigeria off its dependence on oil by diversifying the government’s income streams. This necessity was further given impetus by the economic recession that confronted the administration at its inception.
Raising revenue from taxes is an area the administration has looked with hopeful but justified expectation towards helping the government earn significant revenue that would enable it embark on the kind of legacy projects that will bear the signature of Buhari’s term as president.
Perhaps it was with an insight to the gravity of the task ahead that the president saddled Muhammad Nami with this critical responsibility by appointing him the country’s chief tax officer as the executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in December last year.
Armed with three decades of stellar private sector experience in finance, audit and accounting, Nami is a man with both the requisite training and experience for the task. With such a proper background fit for purpose, it was no surprise when one of the first steps he took was to reorganize the organisational structure of the 10,000-strong workforce he had inherited, in order to put square pegs in square holes so as to get the best out of his team both individually and collectively. Then he embarked on building a team spirit among the staff. Experts in liberal philosophy would tell you that teamwork and collective responsibility bond well for eliciting the best productivity from a set of individuals, and this is a philosophy that is easily noticeable in Nami’s leadership style.
And to achieve that to the fullest, one has to adopt both soft skills (emotional intelligence) and firm diplomacy to also bring into line those within the fold who may be slow to adapt to the new values, vision and purpose seeping through the organisation.
A careful observation of programmes of the FIRS executive chairman and his management team would reveal his emphasis on collective ownership of decision-taking, in which nobody takes credit for the successes the agency had made, and vice versa.
This new value of collectiveness was exemplified in an event organised by a leadership coach, Linus Okorie, who after gauging Nami’s leadership style, had this to say: “This shows teamwork. This is great and commendable.”
Mr Okorie must have noted how the FIRS boss operated on first name terms with members of his management team, even allotting them nicknames that showed the kind of important shift they put in, showing that each of them contributed importantly to the success of the whole.
The spirit of collective aspiration towards achieving organisational targets is not easy to build in a country like Nigeria where personal and group divisions are more easily defined than togetherness. But for the FIRS, the executive chairman’s drive, purposefulness and approachability have helped to forge them into a group of people united by a common zeal to deliver the collective goal. That is why despite the grave disruptions caused by COVID-19 to all levels of social and economic life of individuals and countries, the FIRS has still managed to post good results. The tax agency set a new revenue collection record in the first quarter of 2020, as total tax collections rose to N1.12trillion above the N1.04trillion recorded in Q1 2019. And that is a period partially blighted by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. While the second quarter report card is expected to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on the economy in the form of reduced earnings, the management and staff of the FIRS have expressed confidence that they can match the revenue target of N8.55billion set for it by the president. It is a tall order, but Mr. Nami had himself noted that effective and efficient stamp duty collection alone would earn Nigeria trillions of Naira yearly. To this end, one of the key moves he made was to get the primary collecting platform, the banks, to get onside. The results of this collaboration will definitely be a meteoric rise in stamp duty collection figures going forward.
The FIRS management has its work cut out. With a tax to GDP ratio of about six percent, which is arguably the lowest in Africa, it has the tough task of raising it to double digits by widening the tax net. However, with a team pulling together in one direction, the organisation is sure to surpass the limits.
Ojo, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos
