As part of its measures to remove
bottlenecks in the tax system in the country, the Federal Inland Revenue
Service has hired some Nollywood actors and actresses. But rather than
following the FIRS officials to various offices or companies to collect
tax, the actors are engaging in what they know how to do best: drama
production.
The collaboration has given birth to Binding Duty,
a TV drama produced by seasoned broadcaster and master of ceremonies,
Ohi Alegbe. With stage wizard Ihria Enakimo, who has starred in, among
other works, Odia Ofeimun’s dance dramas, A Feast of Return and Nigeria the Beautiful, as the director, Binding Duty is sponsored by the FIRS, based on its belief that drama is a powerful tool for enlightenment.
In the 26 episodes that have already
been produced, veteran actress Tina Mba returns as Doorshima Jang (FIRS
Director). She projects her versatility as she moves to resolve
contradictions played up by various characters, some of who are bent on
duping the agency. Other screen divas playing different roles in the
drama include Eric Obinna, Langley Evru and Tony Afokhai – while the
executive producers are Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru and Kabir M Mashi.
Assistant Director at FIRS, Mr. Wahab
Gbadamosi, is the coordinating producer, alongside Nneka Ifekwuna, with
Abraham Adetutu and Austin Awulonu as the director of photography and
artistic director, respectively.
When Binding Duty comes on air,
fans of TV soap operas will come to terms with the consequences of
circumventing the tax system of a nation or state. Being a didactic
drama, all the characters that try to cheat the system are eventually
punished, while those that do the right things are rewarded.
Of, course this is what the FIRS wants
viewers to know, with Gbadamosi saying that the project, which started
in 2008, is one of the subtle ways that it is adopting to cleanse the
system and to firm up the revenue base of the Federal Government.
Gbadamosi says, “The behavioural change
is being pursued in the house and our clients are being focused for
synergy. It is also an education platform that cuts across all strata of
the society.”
On her part, Ifekwuna notes that the drama has as its opening episode Short Cut, an in-house cleansing for the FIRS in order to effectively confront the challenges of enforcing compliance among tax payers.
“We have to clean our table, otherwise we will not be able to clean the nation,” she adds.
In Short Cut, a man who goes by
many aliases and claims to work ‘directly with the director’ at FIRS,
obtains a fake tax clearance certificate from a roadside printer on
behalf of a family that has applied for a visa. An alert by the embassy
saves the day for the tax authorities.
Other Episodes of the drama include Burrowed Time (focusing on unremitted VAT funds), To Have and to Hold (focusing on withholding tax proceeds), Ostrich Syndrome (focusing on tax arrears), and Double Jeopardy (focuses on personal income tax).
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