2015:GROUP CALLS ON TUNDE FOWLER TO RUN FOR LAGOS GOVERNORSHIP By ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.

Mr Babatunde Fowler is a highly respected figure in Lagos politics but will he run?

 2015:GROUP CALLS ON TUNDE FOWLER TO RUN FOR LAGOS GOVERNORSHIP

By ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.

Members of not-for-profit agency, Lagos Development Advocacy Group have called on Lagos state public administrator, Mr Babatunde Fowler to contest under the platform of the All Progressive Congress in 2015.

In a press briefing at the International Press Center in Lagos, Nigeria, The Project Coordinator, Mr Olayemi Olukunle told a cross section of the Nigerian press that he and his colleagues were sure that based on the colorful antecedents of Mr Fowler he will make a good successor to the present Governor, Barrister Babatunde Raji Fashola upon the completion of his tenure soon.

He debunked the claims making the rounds that the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress had chosen one of the aspirants as his choice candidate for 2015,saying all the gladiators were deliberately heating up the polity by flying all sorts of kites on the matter.

He argued that it was not a bad idea for anyone to argue based on primordial sentiments that a Christian and a politician from a particular zone in the state ought to be made Governor as they have never had an opportunity at holding the position in the past..

He told the media that Mr Fowler has not signified his interests to run as at press time but that they were hoping that if they continued to publicize the matter he may be convinced to throw his cap in the ring like others.

Mr Babatunde William Fowler has been widely credited as been the architect behind the growing  internally generated revenue of the state from a miserly N700 million in 1999 to massive N15billion monthly in 2014.

Dr. William Babatunde Fowler was born to the family of Professor (Dr) and (Chief) Mrs. W.V. Fowler both of Lagos State. He studied in the United States of America at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, where he obtained his first bachelors’ degree with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Political Science in 1978. He completed a second bachelors’ degree program at California State University, Los Angeles and also a Master of Business Administration degree program at California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1981.

He started out as a Marketing Intern with Avon Products Inc. New York working under the Vice President in charge of Africa. Having completed his formal education he was employed by Johnson and Johnson in New Jersey USA, under the MBA International Development Program lasting one year, thereafter he was transferred to join Johnson and Johnson Nigeria between September 1982 and September 1983.

He made a career change from International Finance and Marketing to Banking in January 1984. In the banking industry he had the opportunity to work and also head broad and varied areas of banking operations and business development in 2 major commercial banks over the next 20 years.

He joined Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited) in January 1984, where he was exposed to all aspects of International Banking, Risk Management, and Clearing Operations. Positive reforms were introduced by him as the treasurer of the bank and was a foundation member and trustee of the now Money Market Association of Nigeria. His banking experience at Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited) came to conclusion with his last appointment as the Apapa Branch Manager, the first branch of the bank outside the head office.

He left Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited) in March 1990 to join Chartered Bank in April 1990 as a Senior Manager where he spent the last 14 years in the banking industry. His initial posting was as Head of Branch Network during which he successfully grew the bank’s branches from 2 to 11 branches spread over the country within the first 5 years. He was also in charge of revenue collections for both State and Federal agencies, which he grew, placing the bank amongst the top 3 banks in all collections. He was able to prove himself as a seasoned banker and administrator until he left the organization as a General Manager in March 2004.

Upon leaving the banking industry in 2004, Dr Fowler joined the Lagos State Government and was appointed the pioneer Permanent Secretary/ Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue on the    24^th of November 2005, thereby upgrading the office of the Executive Chairman to the highest level in the Civil Service.

The Board of Internal Revenue became autonomous and self accounting with the passage into law in January 2006 of the Lagos State Revenue Administration Law (The first Revenue Board to become autonomous in Nigeria) and Dr Fowler was appointed as the pioneer Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service and Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue.

With this re-engineering, the new Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue (As it is now referred to) has achieved the following within 8 years between 2006 and 2013

• A Sharp increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from an average of N 3.6 Billion per month in January 2006 to an average of over N20.5 Billion per month in 2013. 
• Improved quality of service delivery to taxpayers.
• Improvement in the use of IT and other modern methods of tax administration.
• An unprecedented enlightenment campaign on tax administration and education in Africa.

These reforms have made Lagos State the only State in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that is financially independent of the monthly financial allocation of revenue from the Federation Account and also the only State that generates internally more revenue than the monthly allocation from the Federation Account. The State is presently able to meet to a considerable degree, the enormous demands for infrastructure and services from the exploding population presently put at over 20 million.

In recognition of the above, Dr William Babatunde Fowler was awarded Honorary Senior Member of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in 2004, conferred with fellowship ‘Honoris Causa’ by Certified Board of Administrators of Nigeria in May 2007 and Professional Honorary Doctorate Degree in June 2007 by the Irish International University. He is also a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, and Business Management Association (UK).

Dr William Babatunde Fowler is happily married to Mrs. Rosemary Fowler and they are blessed with wonderful children.