From Chukwudi Obasi, Abuja
The House of Representatives has initiated legislative action to amend the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Act, aiming to reposition the agency and enhance its capacity to manage federal government assets and investments more effectively.
Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, made this known on Tuesday at a public hearing on the bill to repeal and re-enact the MOFI Act.
The Committees on Finance and Public Assets jointly organised the hearing.
The proposed legislation, titled “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Ministry of Finance Incorporated Act, Cap. M229, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and Enact the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (Establishment, Etc.) Bill, and for Related Matters (HB. 986),” aims to address the structural and operational deficiencies that have hindered MOFI’s performance since its establishment in 1959.
Faleke said MOFI, created as a corporate sole to manage federal investments, had underperformed due to outdated legal frameworks and inefficiencies.
He noted that a significant restructuring in 2023 repositioned MOFI from a passive asset holder to an active investment institution, modelled after global examples such as Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.
“Today, it manages portfolios across energy, infrastructure, financial services, and emerging industries,” Faleke said.
Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, Chairman of the MOFI Board and former Minister of Finance, expressed concern over the state of government-owned assets, many of which, he said, were funded through loans but are now either unaccounted for or yielding no returns.
“Many of these assets are not in the books of the organisations set up to manage them. They are not paying dividends, and we’ve been tracking them,” Usman stated.
He emphasised the need to shift focus beyond Nigeria’s debt profile and to consider the country’s asset base.
“If we consider the total assets, including those acquired with loans, Nigeria’s net worth is still significant,” he said.
MOFI’s Managing Director, Dr Armstrong Takang, said reforms in the last two years have significantly expanded the agency’s asset base from N1.25 trillion to over N18 trillion, aided by financial oversight and transparency initiatives.
“Over the past two years, we’ve verified 20 corporate assets, all of which have undergone three years of audited financial reviews. These alone account for over N8 trillion in value,” Takang disclosed.
However, he warned that the absence of a comprehensive legal framework still hampers accountability for non-corporate assets, such as ports and key infrastructure, which remain undocumented.
Earlier, a message from Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, delivered by Rep. Billy Osawaru (Orhionmwon/Uhunmwode, Edo), emphasised the importance of the amendment in aligning MOFI’s operations with modern financial regulations and Nigeria’s fiscal realities.
“The proposed amendment is critical to repositioning MOFI and bringing it in line with Nigeria’s current economic realities and fiscal governance demands,” the Speaker stated.
