Omoigui’s 10-month wait on the Senate

Ifueko Omoigui,In this piece, Taiwo Adisa chronicles the intrigues that dogged the 10-month-long process of reconfirmation of Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui as chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) by the Senate.

ON Thursday, April 10, the Senate delivered good news to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui. It was a news item she had waited for in the past ten months. President Umaru Yar’Adua had made Omoigui’s re-appointment one of his first assignments in June 2007, when he forwarded her name for confirmation by the Senate and the Senate plenary referred the nomination for screening by its Committee on Finance on June 28, 2007.

The FIRS boss was appointed in 2004 by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the first term of four years. She headed a15-man board. Sections 3(2a) and 4 of the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007 which empowers the Senate to confirm her nomination reads: “The chairman and other members of the board, other than the ex-officio members, shall hold office for a term of four years renewable once only.

“The Board shall consist of the executive chairman of the service to be appointed by the president and subject to the confirmation of the Senate.” The 10-member Senate committee, headed by former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, screened the nominee on Tuesday, September 11, 2007. The report of the screening session presented to the Senate last Thursday indicated that the woman met all the criteria for confirmation.

The committee said in the report: “The nominee appeared before the committee on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 to be screened. Several questions relating to her education, work, experience, socio-political as well as economic matters were asked. She proffered satisfactory answers to the questions.”

But the screening did not just go as smoothly as that. There was a petition from Omoigui’s own backyard: the FIRS chapter of the Civil Service Union. The petition, entitled: Why Ms Ifueko Omoigui’s Reappointment as Chairman, Chief Executive of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Should Not Be Confirmed, raised questions as to the propriety of the woman for the top seat. It was apparent that the civil servants in the service have axes to grind with their boss.

The Senate committee, however, reported that issues raised in the petition had been thrashed out at the screening session and that they had been “addressed appropriately.” The committee, therefore, urged the Senate to consider her nomination and approve the same.

Soon after the screening and the compilation of the report by the committee, politics set into the appointment. On four occasions, the report for her confirmation was listed on the Senate’s Order Paper and on each occasion, the report went without a mention.

Sources in the Senate informed that the upper chamber had been sharply divided by forces working for and against the woman. The accusations against her bother on alleged high-handedness and some were categorical that the woman was too strict in her management of resources. But while such excuses cannot be cited officially, those against her found a common ground in the allegation that she asked senators to submit evidence of tax clearance personally signed by her before their nomination and election could be confirmed by the relevant authorities. Those who opposed her candidature were able to portray that insinuation as a direct affront on the integrity of the senators and they were able to gain some followers.

But it was alleged that the opposition against her was fuelled by a female senator from the North Central geo-political zone who was said to be pushing the candidature of a tax consultant to replace Omoigui. It was also gathered that the senator utilised her closeness to a leading member of the Senate to cause a perpetual delay in the listing and presentation of Omoigui’s screening report.

Outside the Senate, it was gathered that the consultant, who hoped to be named as Omoigui’s replacement, had garnered a $1 million war chest to battle her way through if the woman is knocked out of the way.

In the keenly fought battle, it was clear that some Senators took positions on the basis of principle, while others simply masked their sentiments by hiding under some excuses. One of the radical voices in the Senate, Senator Smart Adeyemi, confirmed in an interview that some Senators were aggrieved as a result of the statement credited to the FIRS boss which appeared to call the integrity of the lawmakers to question.

At a stage, some forces concocted a sort of enmity between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Umaru Yar’Adua to further whip up sentiments against the woman. While Senator Iyabo Obasanji-Bello was seen as leading the campaign for Omoigui in the Senate, the forces insinuated that Yar’Adua was no longer disposed to the FIRS boss because of the Obasanjo link.

It was a spirited battle that got to the heart of the Senate leadership itself as sources indicated that some principal officers of the Senate sang discordant tunes on this matter. The confirmation was thus put in abeyance so as to allow the Senate read the true position of the president on the nominee and also avoid a big break in the ranks.

As the politics of confirmation was ongoing, a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Patrick Obahiagbon, challenged the upper chamber to confirm the woman whom he said had displayed her competence as shown in the growth in the nation’s revenue profile in recent years.

At the height of the confirmation drama, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence and Army, Senator Ibrahim Idah, was said to have met with President Yar’Adua with copies of detailed revenue profile of the country. The meeting between the senator and the president was said to have paved the direction among many senators as it was said that the president had insisted on not nominating a replacement for the woman based on her performance in office.

With that information as a common knowledge among the senators, it was apparent that the issue of Omoigui’s confirmation was only a matter of time. Last week, the confirmation process was nearly caught in another cross fire. The item was slated for Wednesday on the Order Paper, but senators resisted the move to confirm her that day as a result of the unclear signals they were getting on the presidential assent to the 2008 budget. Some senators openly canvassed the fact that no nomination from the president should be confirmed until the issue of 2008 budget was sorted out.

But the following day, it was calmer among the senators as they dissolved into the Committee of the Whole to consider the report that recommended Omoigui’s confirmation. In presenting the report, Senator Makarfi raised another dust when he said the committee found the woman to be competent but that competence had its price

“The Committee has screened her and we can confirm her competence, but sometimes, competence comes with a price,” the Senator said, apparently alluding to the delay her nomination had suffered in the Senate.

He also said the committee looked into aspects of life of the nominee and found nothing against her. “On moral grounds, we did not find anything against her,” he said. One noticeable development on the day of the confirmation was the absence of the ringleaders of Omoigui’s opposition campaign. But as the Senate President, Senator David Mark, descended the top seat to preside over the Committee of the Whole, it was clear that the mood of the Senate was in favour of the FIRS boss. Senators took their turns to praise the woman and recommend her confirmation.

In hailing Omoigui’s appointment, Senator Ike Ekweremadu said she had shown herself as a worthy example of the growing class of brilliant young women in public service. “Nigerian women have found themselves in areas of responsibility and have held them creditably. They have showed that they got their positions not because they are women, but because they earned it,’’ he said.

Senator Lee Maeba introduced another dimension to the debate when he said the Senate needed to quickly confirm the woman so as to prevent her from being snatched by one of the international agencies seeking to sign her on. He said the development would enable President Yar’Adua to work with a quality candidate like Omoigui.

Senator Ehigie Uzamere also said of the FIRS boss: “It is on record that it was under her that the FIRS was able to contribute more than N1.2 trillion to the federal, state and local governments. I want to say that she will not disappoint.”

A former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Senator Felix Bajomo, also said Omoigui was “a very sound professional, a very competent person and more often she carried her diligence to a level very difficult for others.’’

After the series of praises, Senator Mark put the question on whether the majority of senators wanted her confirmed as the Chief Executive of the FIRS and the chamber answered in a unanimous affirmative. With this, the 10-month confirmation drama was laid to rest.