President Muhammad Buhari has conferred an award of Excellence in Public Service on the Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Muhammad Nami for his exemplary leadership in public service.
Buhari presented the award to Nami on Friday in Abuja at the maiden Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service, in recognition of his efforts at shoring up revenue for the country through the introduction of unprecedented institutional, modernisation and technological reforms that have seen the FIRS transform into the nation’s foremost cash-cow.
A statement by Nami’s Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola, disclosed that 43 other awardees were honoured including former President Goodluck Jonathan, President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, Minister of Works and Housing, Babajide Raji Fashola, SAN, among others.
“Within his three years in office, Muhammad Nami is renowned to have transformed and repositioned the apex revenue body to ensure efficiency in revenue collection leading to the collection of an unprecedented sum of N6.4 trillion by the FIRS in 2021; the highest ever collected by the Service.
While presenting the awards, Buhari noted that they were a validation of the work done by the recipients and a motivation to continue to do more.
The president noted that the Nigeria Excellence in Public Service Award put together by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in partnership with The Best Strategic Media is an award that recognises and rewards service delivery.
Also speaking, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, noted that the awards were scorecards of different offices at various levels.
“This is an award that recognises and rewards excellence. It is for the development of public service and the nation at large. Recipients have been carefully selected from both public and private sectors. Nigeria is our nation and we must stand up to protect and defend it,” Mustapha said.
Speaking on behalf of the recipients, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who received an award for Peace Building said it was gratifying that people were recognised based on their service to the nation. He thanked the organisers of the award for their commitment to national growth and development.
“I thank President Muhammadu Buhari for coming to make the presentation of the award himself. It shows his commitment to excellence in public service. On behalf of the 44 of us, I assure you that we will continue to do our best for the society”, former President Jonathan said.
On his part, Nami thanked the president for the opportunity to serve, while dedicating the Award to the Board, Management and Staff of the FIRS, taxpayers, his family, friends and relatives, among others.
