Oct.31, 2023

The Senate has confirmed the appointment of Mr Zaccheus Adedeji as the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).

This follows the adoption of a motion by the Senate Leader, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele (APC-Ekiti) at the Committee of the Whole on Tuesday.

Presenting the motion, Bamidele urged the Senate to consider the request of President Bola Tinubu for the confirmation of Adedeji for appointment as Executive Chairman of FIRS.

Prior to the screening and confirmation procedures, the Senate suspended its rule to allow the admittance of the nominee and other guests into the Red Chamber.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Abdullahi Gumel led the nominee into the Red Chamber.

Thereafter, the nominee gave the highlights of his career profile and professional experiences.

Adedeji was Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State, as well as Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Revenue, before his nomination as FIRS Chairman-designate.

The new FIRS boss told the lawmakers during his screening that, if confirmed, he would work to develop data upon which revenue generation would be anchored.

He stressed that there was need to improve on the data mining capacity of the nation.

Adedeji also said he would promote the national identification system for data generation, saying that FIRS under him would make best use of data for revenue generation.

While responding to further questions on tax credit scheme, pioneer status and wavier policies, for companies, he said there was need to ascertain it based on current realities.

According to him, this is necessary if the laws enacting the policies are still serving the initial purpose for which it was earlier formulated.

He said that current realities necessitated looking at the laws by re-evaluating and re-assessing the policies on waivers, tax credit and pioneer status.