He is a tax collector,
with great faculty for revenue generation. He has severally proved this
through excellent performance of his oversight functions as the head of
assigned public institutions. Everywhere he works, he tried as much
as possible to leave behind indelible and credible marks for everyone
coming after to appreciate the foundation he has built and follow suit.
Simply put, he builds solid foundation for others to have evaluating
structure erected on his efforts. This is the administrative life of
the current Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.,
Dr. Babatunde Fowler.
The amiable looking,
Tax administrator no doubt must have secured his present appointment as a
result of the feat he recorded in similar capacity in the employ of
the Lagos state government.
 |
| Dr. Babatunde Fowler. |
Dr. fowler born
into the popular Lagos Fowler family, is a public officer per
excellence and social reformer who through his exemplary administrative
qualities generated heavy revenue for base for the Lagos state
government as the Chairman of the state Board of Internal Revenue and
Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service.
Folks
conversant with Dr. Fowler' background are however very optimistic
that, he would put his academic prowess in revenue generation to play to
turn around the revenue strength in the Federal system as he has
creditable done in Lagos.
His excellent record
and his frequency in air traveling has ignited the special focus on his
background by Air Transport Quarterly. He is often see at the airport
as one of those with huge financial contribution to the air transport
industry through high patronage of the airlines.
Born
on 12 August 1956, Dr. Fowler who recently celebrated his 60th
anniversary was born to the family of Professor (Dr) and (Chief) Mrs.
W.V. Fowler. He attended Igbobi College in Lagos and studied in the
United States of America at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater,
where he obtained his first bachelor's degree with a Bachelor of Science
in Economics and a minor in Political Science in 1978. He completed a
second bachelor's degree program at California State University, Los
Angeles and also a Master of Business Administration degree program at
California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1981.
He
started out as a Marketing Intern with Avon Products Inc. New York
working under the Vice President in charge of Africa. Having completed
his formal education he was employed by Johnson and Johnson in New
Jersey USA, under the MBA International Development Program lasting one
year, thereafter he was transferred to join Johnson and Johnson Nigeria
between September 1982 and September 1983.
He
made a career change from International Finance and Marketing to Banking
in January 1984. In the banking industry he had the opportunity to work
and also head broad and varied areas of banking operations and business
development in 2 major commercial banks over the next 20 years.
He
joined Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited) in January
1984, where he was exposed to all aspects of International Banking, Risk
Management, and Clearing Operations. Positive reforms were introduced
by him as the treasurer of the bank and was a foundation member and
trustee of the now Money Market Association of Nigeria. His banking
experience at Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited) came to
conclusion with his last appointment as the Apapa Branch Manager, the
first branch of the bank outside the head office.
He
left Commercial Bank in March 1990 to join Chartered Bank in April 1990
as a Senior Manager where he spent the last 14 years in the banking
industry. His initial posting was as Head of Branch Network during which
he successfully grew the bank’s branches from 2 to 11 branches spread
over the country within the first 5 years. He was also in charge of
revenue collections for both State and Federal agencies, which he grew,
placing the bank amongst the top 3 banks in all collections. He was able
to prove himself as a seasoned banker and administrator until he left
the organization as a General Manager in March 2004.
Upon
leaving the banking industry in 2004, Fowler joined the Lagos State
Government and was appointed the pioneer Permanent Secretary/ Executive
Chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue on the 24th of
November 2005, thereby upgrading the office of the Executive Chairman to
the highest level in the Civil Service.
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 (The first Revenue Board to become autonomous in
Nigeria) and Fowler was appointed as the pioneer Chief Executive Officer
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 (As
it is now referred to) has achieved the following within 8 years between
2006 and 2013 :A sharp increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)
from an average of N 3.6 Billion per month in January 2006 to an average
of over N20.5 Billion per month in 2014, improved quality of service
delivery to taxpayers, improvement in the use of IT and other modern
methods of tax administration, an unprecedented enlightenment campaign
on tax administration and education in Africa. These reforms have made
Lagos State the only State in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that is
financially independent of the monthly financial allocation of revenue
from the Federation Account and also the only State that generates
internally more revenue than the monthly allocation from the Federation
Account.The State is presently able to meet to a considerable degree,
the enormous demands for infrastructure and services from the exploding
population presently put at over 20 million.
Fowler
has remained a vocal voice against Nigeria's over-dependence on oil
revenue. 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.
