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Yar'dua restores autonomy to Inland Revenue Agency BY Guardian Last September, Yar'Adua suspended the autonomy granted the agency in the dying days of the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration by virtue of the FIRS Act 2007, which empowered the agency to appoint, promote and discipline its officers in the same manner as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The suspension order came while the agency was in the process of upgrading its workforce with the help of a human resource management consultant who had been mobilised. In suspending the constitutional rights of the tax agency, a director in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), U.D. Ambursa explained that the action was taken to enable government to seek advice of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice on a complaint by the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) that the autonomy granted the tax agency was inconsistent with provisions of the 1999 Constitution as it relates to the FCSC's functions. The four-paragraph letter conveying the suspension of autonomy reads in part: "The import of the two letters is that the FCSC, is contending that the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007 which has granted the power to the agency to appoint, promote and discipline its staff is inconsistent with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution." It continued: "Consequently, and since the issue has already been referred to the attorney general of the federation for determination, you are requested to suspend all activities concerning appointment, promotion and discipline of staff until the decision of the AGF is obtained. This will be communicated to you in due course.'' The FCSC is the agency that recruits, promotes and discipline all officers from Salary Grade Level Seven and above for all Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that have no establishment autonomy, including the tax agency, before the 2007 enabling instrument. While canvassing for establishment autonomy, the FIRS Executive Chairman complained that some of the senior officers, including directors were slowing down the current management reform drive of the agency because they could not handle the schedules they were assigned from the FCSC and secondly, because they could not be directly reprimanded by the FIRS management, hence the need for the authority to be allowed to select its staff in order to pick the best crop of workers and also have the authority to sanction them if they err. An elated Mrs. Omoigui-Okaru at the weekend said: "We have our autonomy back now. We are happy for it. The AGF finally wrote last week. He said the FIRS has a complete right to hire and fire its own staff." Meanwhile, the FIRS at the weekend also took delivery of a state of the art Human Resource Management and Pay Roll system Information Technology (IT) system funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID). The IT solution - built by IT consulting firm, SAP - provides the tax agency with the capability of managing cost effectively: recruitment , organizational management, employee administration, benefits administration, pension administration , time management (leave, absence, overtime), payroll processing and training and event management, performance management (appraisals) and reporting, including regulatory reports.
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