The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for second reading a Bill to repeal the Ministry of Finance Incorporated Act 1959 and reenact the Ministry of Finance Act 2024.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the Bill at the plenary, Ademorin Kuye explained that the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoFI) was established in 1959 by an Act of parliament to serve as the sole custodian of Federal Government Assets throughout the Federation.
Since its establishment, the lawmaker noted that MoFI has not operated as it should, given the pillage, brigandage, abandonment, diversion, misappropriation and abuse of federal assets throughout the country.
The lawmaker argued that since the old Act of 1959 contains only six sections without the needed impetus for the Corporation to assume its role in modern Nigeria, the new Act is introducing a comprehensive framework of 49 sections for the conduct, management, use and custodianship of Federal Government assets
Kuye added that the Bill, when passed into law, would reinvigorate MoFI to provide necessary institutional framework to guide its corporate governance and establish its organisational structure.
He said the Bill seeks to ensure the effective ownership and accountability in the use, custodianship and management of federal government assets.
The Bill also seeks to institionalise and empower the corporation to provide the needed economic stimulus for growth through the effective and efficient use and management of federal government assets as a check against abandonment, redundancy and misappropriation of these assets.
He noted that the Bill would also ensure strong legal backbone for the emergence of a truly national corporation that would manage, account for and optimise the use of over N300 trillion worth of federal government assets by granting MOFI certain powers and ensuring that the board is properly incentivized.
Reps pass finance ministry amendment bill for second reading