Babatunde Fowler (born 12 August 1956) is a Nigerian public officer, tax administrator and social reformer. He was the executive chairman Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue and Chief Executive Officer Lagos State Internal Revenue Service. He is the former executive chairman of the

Federal Inland Revenue Service The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is the agency responsible for assessing, collecting and accounting for tax and other revenues accruing to the Federal Government of Nigeria. History Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was created in ...

(FIRS).

Career

The Board of internal revenue became autonomous and self-accounting with the passage into law in January 2006 of the Lagos State Revenue Administration Law and Fowler was appointed as the first CEO of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service and executive chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue. With this re-engineering, the new Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue has achieved a sharp increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from an average of ₦3.6 billion per month in January 2006 to an average of over ₦20.5 billion per month in 2014. Declining tax revenues since 2015, a lavish lifestyle, and whispered accusations of outright corruption were suspected to be behind the announcement on 9 December 2019 of President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

declining to renew his appointment as executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Advocacy

Foweler advocates for less dependence on oil. The position was reiterated by him at an international conference where he warned the Federal Government of Nigeria that the "drastic drop in revenue had a negative impact on the balance in the federation account and by extension the amount accruing to the three tiers of government (in Nigeria) during the year 2009". In stimulating interest and raising awareness on tax education at an early stage in life, Fowler introduced a competition for pupils which is funded by his board in which winners are given cash awards and scholarships.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Babatunde Living people Businesspeople from Lagos Nigerian politicians Yoruba politicians 1956 births California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni California State University, Los Angeles alumni University of Wisconsin–Whitewater alumni Nigerian bankers Yoruba bankers Nigerian expatriates in the United States Nigerian chief executives