700,000 people applied for 500 jobs - FIRS

Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler, has disclosed that the organisation received more than 700,000 applications from the recent job advert it placed for 500 vacancies.

The chairman who said this yesterday in Abuja during a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition noted that, out of the 700,000 applicants who applied for FIRS job opening, more than 2,000 had first class degrees in various disciplines and were qualified to be engaged by the Service.

Fowler made this disclosure while addressing a petition from some of the applicants, who claimed that they have been excluded from the employment processes.

He explained that FIRS would recruit only 500 people, noting that the exercise was designed only to expand the country’s revenue and to increase manpower for tax revenue collection. He, however, assured the applicants that the organisation will ensure fairness in its recruitment process. "We have secured waiver and endorsement from the Federal Character Commission in order to ensure that the right thing is done," Fowler said.