After 11 months in office as Chairman, Lagos Board of Internal Revenue and Chief Executive, Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mr. Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, has been sacked from office. An internal memo communicating Ogunsanwo’s departure from the revenue-collection agency dressed up his exit “retirement.” Dated 26 August and signed by J. Aina, Board Secretary, the memo told staff that Ogunsanwo was proceeding on retirement from 25 August and had handed over to Mrs. Akintola Bolaji, Director, Tax Audit.
The memo, however, was not offering the staff information that they did not have. It has become clear to them since early July that Ogunsanwo, who boasted on appointment that he would double the state’s internally generated revenue, was not going to be in the seat for much longer. Sources in the LIRS said Ogunsanwo could not account for about N4. 2 billion was belonging to the agency.
This was said to have earned him a query from Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was not impressed with Ogunsanwo’s response. He was told to proceed on compulsory leave pending the conclusion of investigations into the sun unaccounted for.
During the investigation, Ogunsanwo, disclosed sources, refunded the sum of N1.2 billion. His decision to cooperate with the investigators, explained sources, was a major reason the government spared him the embarrassment of being exposed.
Ogunsanwo succeeded Mr. Tunde Fowler, who was appointed Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Shortly after resuming office, he took an axe to the structure inherited from his predecessor, sacking many top staff hired by Fowler.
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