Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Tunde Fowler, has revealed that 2000, out of the over 700,000 applicants in the FIRS job vacancies that were advertised in some national newspapers, were first class graduates.

Fowler said this while appearing before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Petition, to respond to certain allegations against his agency.

Members of the House committee said that they had received petitions from members of the public alleging that they were excluded from participating in the FIRS recruitment exercise.

But the FIRS boss explained that only 500 vacancies exist in the agency, whereas the number of applicants was already well above 700,000.

Fowler added that more than 2,000 of the applicants had first class degrees in various disciplines and were qualified to be engaged by the FIRS.

He explained that the exercise was designed to increase manpower for tax revenue collection and expand the country’s revenue base, but assured that the organisation would ensure fairness and due process in the recruitment process.

He also disclosed that the FIRS “have secured waiver and endorsement from the Federal Character Commission in order to ensure that the right thing is done.’’

Chairman of the House committee, Nkem Abonta, directed the FIRS boss to make available to the committee the nominal roll of the tax organization so that the House would assist it in arriving at a decision.