“Why target the only office bringing in good news?” A civil servant asked in Abuja last week. The question lingered because it captured the current unease around the sudden storm over Zacch Adedeji.
The controversy began when the Arewa Consultative Youth Movement demanded that the FIRS chairman step aside for investigation. Their petition mentioned an “unexplained lifestyle,” but brought forward no evidence, dates, or transactions.
What Adedeji’s allies saw was different. The FIRS had just crossed historic revenue marks; targets were met and exceeded; staff morale rose after long-neglected welfare reforms. The tax service, normally treated as a bureaucratic backwater, became a pillar of the administration’s economic agenda.
The taxman’s defenders pointed to outcomes. Leakages were sealed; digital systems replaced paper trails; a new policy architecture pushed the country toward a progressive tax regime. Nigeria’s external reserves climbed toward $45 billion, easing market anxiety. These were structural shifts, not cosmetic wins.
So the allegation struck many as oddly timed. Civil society networks, including organisations that once questioned Adedeji, reversed themselves and issued a vote of confidence. The Northern Youths Movement urged him to ignore the threats. Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode called the demand for suspension an “absurdity.”
That chorus raised a different question: who benefits from distracting the head of an agency currently stabilising the nation’s finances? Several opinion writers hinted at turf battles. Some suggested contract seekers felt shut out. Others noted that a few power blocs see the FIRS as the last major institution still under reform-minded leadership.
In truth, revenue work rarely earns applause, even though it determines whether a country borrows for survival or invests for renewal. By and large, Adedeji’s tenure has tried to shift Nigeria toward the latter.
Calls for suspension will continue, but their origins may become clearer. Therefore, eyes remain fixed on Adedeji, even as the accusations struggle to land.
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