Mal. Khalid Dikko

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FIRS, TAX REFORMS & THE QUESTION OF MERIT

Experienced Hire Recruitment or Political Hire Recruitment?

Khalid Kasimu Dikko, anipr

As Nigerians look ahead to the implementation of the ambitious tax reforms championed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it is essential that the institutions entrusted with this responsibility continue to command public confidence. Sustainable reform thrives not only on sound policy, but on institutional trust, fairness and credibility.

In late 2024, the Federal Inland Revenue Service - FIRS (FIRS), now the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS), announced its Experienced Hire Recruitment. The announcement resonated nationwide, amplified across digital platforms and reinforced by respected public figures who openly commended the leadership of Dr. Zaccheus Adedeji. For many professionals, it appeared to signal a renewed commitment to transparency and merit-based public service.

On December 23, 2024, former Kaduna State Governor, H.E. Malam Nasir El-Rufai, publicly encouraged experienced Nigerians to apply, praising the focus and competence of the FIRS leadership. That message strengthened confidence and motivated many of us to apply in good faith.

I was one of those applicants.

I applied not with a sense of entitlement, but because I clearly met the stated requirements. I graduated in 2016, completed NYSC in 2017, earned a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication, and hold professional certification from the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR). At 33 years old, I was comfortably within the stipulated age bracket.

Beyond formal qualifications, my professional journey has been shaped by public service, skills development and job creation. In 2016, I trained over 100 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in leather craft at Bakassi IDP Camp, Maiduguri, in collaboration with NEMA (North-East Zone). That initiative was adopted by UNHCR in late 2016 and subsequently expanded across the North-East, benefiting thousands of displaced persons over the years.

During my NYSC, in January–February 2017, I delivered a lecture at the Ise-Orun Emure NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Ekiti State, titled, “You Need No Government Employment to Survive,” encouraging corps members to embrace skills acquisition, entrepreneurship and self-reliance. I supported the SAED in the physical training of fellow corps members, handing them the magazine I published on skills development initiative.

In May 2025, I was also among the team of consultants engaged to train federal civil servants from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), where we delivered "Hands-on Class/Training Sessions on Agripreneurship and Entrepreneurship" for soon-to-retire federal civil servants, equipping them with practical pathways for post-service productivity. These engagements reflect a consistent commitment to nation-building beyond rhetoric.

These records are verifiable.

I do not believe that qualifications automatically guarantee employment. However, I believe strongly that a transparent process guarantees clarity, closure and public confidence, regardless of outcome.

On February 11, 2025, I received an official email from FIRS Career Services, informing me that I had been selected to advance to the next phase of the recruitment process and requesting uploads of professional credentials. I complied promptly. At least five other qualified professionals I know personally, some chartered accountants, others working within state internal revenue services, received similar communication and also complied.

That was the last official correspondence we received.

There were no interview invitations, no updates, and no formal closure. While silence does not automatically imply wrongdoing, it becomes difficult to reconcile when placed side by side with public claims of transparent, merit-based recruitment.

What further deepened the concern was comparison. Prior to the FIRS exercise, a colleague of mine with whom I worked at Al-Muhibbah Open University secured employment with the NNPC. He had no political connection and knew no one in the system. Like many others who later testified publicly, he went through the process strictly on merit. The NNPC recruitment was widely adjudged to be transparent, offering young Nigerians reassurance that fairness in public service recruitment was still achievable.

Many of us reasonably expected the same, if not higher standards from FIRS, given its strategic importance to Nigeria’s economic future.

In April 2025, during a routine visit to a photocopy shop near the Magistrate Court, FO1 Kubwa, I learned — quite unexpectedly — that a lady had just photocopied an FIRS appointment letter as Assistant Manager, despite not having applied. Around the same period, public declarations further complicated the picture. Senator Ishaku Abbo of Adamawa State, no longer a serving Senator, publicly posted an FIRS appointment letter he facilitated for someone. Similarly, Senator Abdulmumin Jibrin of Kano announced that he had facilitated FIRS employment for a number of his constituents. Other similar cases have also been widely discussed in the public space.

These were not rumours; they were public declarations.

Naturally, they raise fundamental questions. If a non-serving Senator could facilitate and openly publish an FIRS appointment letter, what then does it suggest about the influence of serving Senators? And how do such political interventions align with the FIRS’s publicly stated commitment to transparent and competitive recruitment processes?

It is important to stress that not everyone can or should be employed by FIRS. Personally, I would have been completely at ease had I gone through a transparent, competitive process and simply not succeeded. What has proven difficult is the absence of clarity, especially when none of the qualified professionals I know, including those already working within revenue services, were invited for interviews or further assessments.

As the reality of political mediation became clearer, I sought guidance and a fair push for further engagement— not preferential treatment. I reached out to a friend and brother, Mallam Musa Abdullahi Kirshi, with whom I currently run PhD programmes at the Institute of Strategic & Development Communication, Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK). He has served as media aide to the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, during his tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and now serves as media aide to the current Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas. He listened attentively and assured me that he would help facilitate further engagement strictly within the established recruitment framework if the opportunity arose. Nothing eventually came of it — an outcome I understood, given that any such considerations would naturally prioritise constituency obligations.

Yet, this experience reinforced a broader concern: when access to engagement appears to depend on political facilitation, it contradicts the very principles of transparency and merit that institutions publicly espouse, and risks discouraging qualified Nigerians who still believe in due process.

This reflection is not an accusation. It is not bitterness. It is not a personal grievance. It is a citizen’s appeal for clarity, reassurance and stronger communication from an institution central to Nigeria’s economic future.

The success of Nigeria’s tax reforms will depend not only on policy design, but on the confidence of citizens, especially young professionals who must believe that merit is rewarded, effort is respected and process is meaningful.

So I ask, respectfully and in good faith:

1. How can the Nigerian Revenue Service further strengthen public confidence in its recruitment processes?
2. How can candidates who pass screening stages receive clearer communication and closure?
3. And how can merit be seen — not just stated — as the guiding principle?

When institutions listen, trust grows. When trust grows, reforms succeed.

May Nigeria succeed!