By Udora Orizu
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Account (PAC) yesterday asked the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Services, (FIRS) Mr. Muhammad Mamman Nami, to tender his resignation from office if he is not capable of discharging his constitutional responsibilities.
The committee, which is currently probing the huge dwindling revenues of the federal government as reported by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAGF), gave the order following the failure of the FIRS boss to honour its invitation.
Nami, who was billed to appear before the committee on the nonpayment of taxes by three foreign firms, sent an official to represent him.
His representative, Mr. Olusegun Olatunji, apologised to the committee for his absence, which was attributed to the lateness of the letter of invitation.
But the lawmakers insisted that he must appear in person.
In his ruling, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Wole Oke, expressed dismay over the lukewarm attitudes of the Heads of Ministries Departments and Agencies of the federal government to their constitutional responsibilities.
Oke gave the FIRS’ chairman 18 hours ultimatum to appear in person or be sanctioned in line with the constitution of the country.
Oke said: ‘’This parliament is the symbol of democracy, if President Muhammadu Buhari can course appearance before the parliament whenever the needs be, why not his appointees? Enough is enough. If the FIRS boss cannot perform his constitutional responsibilities again, he should turn in his letter of resignation immediately.
“Is this how he wants to pay back Mr. President who gave him the appointment? The nation is losing billions of Naira from tax evasion on daily basis, and the man in charge is expected to come to the parliament so that a solution can be found on how to stop the ugly development but he has refused to honor the invitation. Based on the seriousness of this, the FIRS boss is to course physical appearance before this Honourable Committee by 10.00 am (today) Thursday. We are determined to stop this nonsense because the nation is bleeding.”
