By Bassey Udo
The maiden edition of the MOFI Excellence Awards to promote excellence in corporate governance and performance across Federal Government-owned and Linked Enterprises is scheduled for 2026.
The Managing Director of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Dr Amstrong Takang, who announced this at the formal unveiling in Abuja on Wednesday, said the awards would deepen the culture of good corporate governance, transparency, and accountability in the public sector of the nation’s economy.
Takang said the awards initiative, which follows the MOFI Corporate Governance Scorecard launched early this year as a part of its ongoing reform agenda, would recognise outstanding performance as well as redefine governance as a strategic asset driving transparency, accountability, and long-term value creation in government-owned entities.
The MOFI Corporate Governance Scorecard, he said, revolves around key pillars that reflect global best practices adapted to Nigeria’s context, including effectiveness and independence of boards; robustness of the control and risk management environment; strategic alignment and performance management; quality and timeliness of financial reporting and disclosure; and emerging issues of environmental, social and governance (ESG) as well as innovation, stakeholder engagement and sustainability.
He said MOFI believes that no strong economy would emerge without strong institutions, adding that strengthening the backbone of public institutions, by incentivising them to adopt best practices, would strengthen the entire nation’s economic outlook.
In the run-up to the awards next year, Takang said the process would involve the submission of documentation and data by portfolio companies required for their performance scorecard assessments and review of established criteria by an independent consultant and other experts.
Once the technical review is completed, the MD said the consolidated findings through an evidence-based process would be presented to an Awards Panel tasked with the responsibility of providing independent oversight, by reviewing score distributions, and confirming entities that meet the threshold for recognition in each category.
“What the Excellence Awards is building is the combination of a national Corporate Governance Scorecard for SOEs (state-owned enterprises) and an independently adjudicated excellence awards programme to serve as a model for other jurisdictions and as a reference point for investors and partners looking for credible signals of reform,” he said.
To select the entities qualified for the awards, an independent panel, made up of individual experts and representatives of institutions renowned for promoting good governance, was inaugurated on Wednesday.
Members include representatives of the Financial Reporting Council, the Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria, the Chartered Institute of Directors, Nigeria Exchange Group and the Chartered Risk Management Institute.
Inaugurating the panel, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, charged its members to make the awards a model of transparency and impact, to help deepen the culture of good corporate governance, transparency and accountability.
The integrity of the awards, the Minister pointed out, was dependent on the integrity of members of the panel responsible for judging and selecting prospective honourees.
He said MOFI Awards, which is open to all government-owned portfolios companies under MOFI management, would ultimately become the standard for corporate governance, transparency, accountability and integrity in the country over time.
“Your roles are pivotal in overseeing a transparent and rigorous process by ensuring the highest standard of institutional performance. We want to see that companies are not only run efficiently, but run according to the rule of law, sanctity of contracts, and regulations, and that they are timely with their financial reporting. There must be an open and independent process that must be merit-based,” he said.
He said the MOFI Excellence Awards was conceived to promote corporate governance excellence, high institutional performance, and strategic alignment across MOFI’s portfolio of public enterprises to spotlight on those boards and management teams that exemplify transparency, accountability, and strong performance.
The intention of the government, he disclosed, would be to recognise agencies and their leaders who demonstrate high standards of transparency, accountability, and performance in managing public assets.
“By doing so, we send a clear message that good governance and results will be rewarded, and that every entity under MOFI should strive towards the highest ideals of service and stewardship,” the Minister said.
He described the initiative as part of MOFI’s core mandate as the asset manager for the Federal Government charged with the responsibility of ensuring that government investments and state-owned enterprises were managed prudently and professionally.
In his response after the inauguration, the Chairman of the panel, who is also the Chairman/CEO of the J. K. Randle Group, a chartered audit, finance, tax, and accounting advisory firm, Bashorun J. K. Randle, expressed appreciation to the government for the confidence reposed in its members to serve.
Randle, who is also the former Chief Executive and Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and former Chairman of KPMG Africa, said the panel would do a good job to justify the confidence.
He said the composition of the panel with persons and entities with diverse perspectives and reputations for integrity would ensure that its evaluations would be independent, credible, and beyond reproach.
The MOFI Excellence Awards, the Chairman explained, would recognise and celebrate state-owned enterprises that demonstrate outstanding corporate governance, prudent risk management, sound ESG practices, and overall operational excellence.
Besides, he said entities that have shown significant improvement over time, by incentivising everyone to attain those standards, while highlighting gaps and providing support to strengthen them, would also be recognised and rewarded.
“We want to send a clear message across the public sector that transparency, accountability and performance will be noticed and rewarded. We also want to foster a healthy sense of competition and peer learning among our portfolio companies,” he said.
