The Board of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced the dissolution of the FIRS unit of the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU).
This was disclosed in a statement by Mr Abdullahi Ahmad, the FIRS Director, Communications and Liaison Department in Abuja on Monday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
READ: FIRS to freeze MultiChoice banks accounts over alleged N1.8 trillion tax fraud, MultiChoice reacts
What the FIRS is saying
The FIRS stated that the union whose executives were purportedly made up of senior staff of FIRS was dissolved in an official announcement circulated to all staff. The statement read in part:
“In line with Gazette No. 6 Vol 65 dated February 8, 1978, and National Industrial Court Judgement dated June 27, 1995, it is noted that the operations of Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) FIRS Unit as it is constituted today in FIRS is considered illegal.
There are no longer any junior staff cadre employees in the service. There is accordingly no legal or other basis whatsoever for the continued existence of a junior staff cadre union in FIRS as the cadre of staff it is deemed to cover does not exist within the organization.
READ: NIPOST in disagreement with FIRS, says its stamp duty collection account is legal
A letter from Federal Ministry of Labour to the Head of Service of the Federation dated 19th February 2015 confirmed the above position in categorical terms.
The statement further clarified that the right of workers to decide which union to belong is not absolute but must be exercised within the limits of Trade Unions Act CAP T14 LFN 2004.
This position was confirmed in the Judgment of the National Industrial Court – NCSU vs ASCSN (2004) 1NLLR Part 3, 427.
In the light of all the above, The FIRS Board at its Meeting No. 30 held on the 24th June 2021, therefore, directed that, in view of items 1 & 2 above, the activities of NCSU FIRS Unit in the Service are henceforth considered illegal.
READ: FIRS announces 35 new Tax Audit Units to address illicit financial flow in Nigeria
And the Union (NCSU FIRS Unit) is hereby proscribed with immediate effect.”
FIRS also disclosed that its board is willing to work with legitimate staff representation, citing that senior staff can increase their mandate through the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) declared that it generated N650 billion revenue in the month of June 2021, making it the highest revenue generated by the agency in a single month since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
