Reps Finance C’ttee pledges legislative support for MOFI on asset recovery

The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has pledged legislative support to the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) in its effort to recover all Federal Government assets and investments.

The Chairman of the committee, Rep. James Faleke (APC-Lagos state) gave the assurance on Thursday during an oversight visit to MOFI in Abuja

Faleke commended former President Muhammadu Buhari for resuscitating MOFI, saying that it had been in comatose since its establishment in 1959.

The lawmaker also lauded the management team led by the Managing Director, Dr. Armstrong Takang for starting on a good footing.

According to him, MOFI came into existence in 1959 and has been dormant until the President Buhari led administration brought it up and reorganised it to make it more viable.

“MOFI is holding all our assets in all the corporations and agencies of government.

‘’So, setting up a management team to harness the resources of the country was a great idea and we, as a committee and indeed the House of Representatives, would give it all the support it needs to flourish.’’

Faleke said that it was the committe’s first visit to MOFI adding, ‘’we have given them time to consolidate. we made some observations and guided them in some areas.

‘’We believe they have taken note of those concerns and all will be well,” he said.

Earlier, Takang, while briefing the committee members, said that MOFI had been given a clear mandate.

He added that the mandate included to list the various assets owned by the federal government across different asset classes.

‘’The agency can now establish the government assets, now, you can tell what the government owns unlike before, it was difficult to tell what the government owns, we are to create an assets register.

“We are to work closely with the portfolio companies to make sure we support them in different ways including corporate governance and recapitalisation and other services that will assist them deliver on their mandates.

The companies include Bank of Industry (BOI), Galaxy Backbone, NIGCOMSAT, NNPCL among others.

Takang said that MOFI was also working with the government to mobilise its investments into other sectors of the economy such as housing, technology and so on.

NAN