Buhari appoints new Budget Office DG, FIRS chair

Buhari appoints new Budget Office DG, FIRS chair 20 Aug 2015 4:14 PM  President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday appointed Dr. William Fowler as the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service. He also appointed Mr. Aliyu  Gusau as the Director-General , Budget Office of the Federation. The two appointments were contained in a statement made available to journalists by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina. Adesina said the new FIRS boss would serve as Acting Executive Chairman of FIRS until his appointment was confirmed by the Senate. 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 Mr. 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.bn per month in January 2006, to an average of about N20.5bn 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.