In a case of double confirmation, the Police Service Council has confirmed the former acting Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, as the substantive IGP and Head of the Nigeria Police Force while the Senate, Tuesday, approved the nomination of Mr Zak Adedeji as Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Briefing State House correspondents after the Council Meeting, the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam, announced the confirmation of Kayode Egbetokun as the substantive Inspector General of Police.
Geidam also said members endorsed President Tinubu’s proposal on the confirmation of Egbetokun, following his pedigree and experiences on the job.
He said Egbetokun’s confirmation follows his satisfactory discharge of duties in the past three months since his appointment on June 20.
Geidam further said that the IGP, who has been serving in an acting capacity for the past four months since his appointment, presented impressive records that revealed his numerous police and security developmental programmes, thereby positioning him as highly qualified.
It would be recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had, on Monday, June 19, 2023, appointed Egbetokun as IGP.
The new IGP replaced Usman Baba, appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari on April 6, 2021.
Egbetokun, who enlisted in the Nigeria Police Force on March 3, 1990, would clock 35 years in service by September 2024.
Similarly, the Senate on Tuesday approved the nomination of Adedeji as the substantive Chairman of the FIRS.
Appearing at the upper chamber for his screening on Tuesday, Adedeji revealed his plans to improve the nation’s revenue, referring to the dearth of information in the oil and gas sector.
He promised that most of the leakages would be halted. According to him, the core problem in the country is that of proper data, adding that developing data upon which decisions will be made is fundamental.
According to him, it will enable sufficient info on the exact number of vessels of crude brought into the county and the concomitant tax. The data would be used to identify those in affluence who pay insufficient tax, the FIRS boss added.
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Adedeji also vowed to centralize the identification system in Nigeria and advance the nation’s data mining capacity.
His confirmation is coming over a month after President Bola Tinubu appointed him, his Special Adviser on Revenue, as the new FIRS.
Before then, Tinubu had directed the erstwhile FIRS Chairman Muhammad Nami to proceed on three months of pre-retirement leave.
The President thereafter wrote to the Senate for expeditious consideration of the confirmation of Zak’s appointment. Tinubu thereafter wrote to the Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio to confirm the nomination.
