Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Chartered Risk Management Institute of Nigeria (CRMI) to strengthen risk management practices across government-owned portfolio companies.

The collaboration, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Abuja, is aimed at embedding a stronger risk culture within public sector enterprises while positioning them for long-term growth and sustainability.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday, the President and Chairman of Council of CRMI, Mr. Kevin Ugwuoke, commended MOFI’s leadership for its economic impact. He noted that with an estimated asset value of N18 trillion, more than 15,000 indirect employees, and confirmed shareholding in over 52 entities, MOFI is well on its path to realising its target of expanding its portfolio to at least N100 trillion in the next decade.

Ugwuoke also applauded the leadership of MOFI’s Managing Director/CEO, Dr. Armstrong Ume Takang, alongside Executive Director of Risk Management, Mrs. Oluwakemi Babalogbon, and Executive Director of Portfolio Management, Mr. Tajudeen Ahmed, for championing risk-driven practices. He reaffirmed CRMI’s readiness to align with MOFI in advancing international best standards in risk management.

In his remarks, Dr. Takang stressed that many public institutions in the past collapsed due to poor or non-existent risk management systems. He said the partnership will support MOFI’s objectives of asset aggregation, professionalisation of public enterprises, capital mobilisation, and sustainability.

Mrs. Babalogbon explained that the joint capacity-building programme, structured into Level 1 and Level 2 training modules, will target skills development for staff at all levels.

Mr. Ahmed added that beyond financial services, other state-owned enterprises will also benefit significantly from the knowledge exchange enabled by the collaboration.

The event ended with both institutions reaffirming their commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s risk management framework, ensuring state-owned enterprises operate with resilience and global best practices.

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When Nigeria inherited its civil service from the British, it was designed as the backbone of governance efficient, accountable, and stable enough to guarantee smooth administration regardless of political change. Decades later, that noble vision has been consumed by a culture of graft so entrenched that the very institution meant to protect the state has instead become one of its biggest liabilities.

The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, recently drew attention to a sobering reality: the depth of corruption in Nigeria’s public life cannot be understood without looking at the civil service. According to him, career civil servants, not just politicians, are responsible for the largest volume of stolen funds.

“Political appointees come and go,” he remarked, “but these civil servants remain embedded, powerful, and indispensable to almost every corrupt deal.” In effect, the system’s continuity has become a weapon used to shield theft, frustrate reforms, and outlast political administrations.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has, over the years, uncovered procurement frauds, frozen suspicious bank accounts, and secured convictions against officials who manipulated contracts for personal enrichment. In Abuja, entire neighborhoods testify to this rot: mansions and estates quietly owned by directors, permanent secretaries, and procurement officers whose official salaries could never fund such wealth.

The schemes are depressingly familiar contract inflation, forged procurement papers, bribery demands for basic services, ghost workers, and pensions siphoned off through fictitious names. Each tactic bleeds public resources meant for hospitals, schools, and infrastructure, leaving ordinary citizens trapped in underdevelopment.

Nigeria has not ignored the crisis. From President Obasanjo’s reform drive in the early 2000s introducing downsizing, monetisation of benefits, and creating agencies like the ICPC and EFCC to the passage of the Public Procurement Act in 2007, governments have repeatedly tried to clean the system. Yet, the results remain cosmetic.

The problem is not merely the law but the will to enforce it. Politicians often rely on the same bureaucrats to execute shady deals, and so genuine reform threatens entrenched interests on both sides. The result is paralysis where corruption is acknowledged but rarely punished with finality.

The consequences extend far beyond missing billions. When salaries are stolen, hospitals collapse; when pensions vanish, old age becomes a nightmare; when school projects are inflated, classrooms never appear. Corruption in the civil service is not an abstract crime it is the silent destruction of the Nigerian state’s capacity to serve its people.

While some argue that poor pay and inadequate pensions encourage corruption, such excuses collapse under scrutiny. No remuneration can justify the scale of theft that cripples an entire nation’s development.

The reality is stark: anti-corruption agencies are overwhelmed, often facing defendants who use their influence to hire the best lawyers, intimidate witnesses, or delay trials endlessly. Without political courage and collective public pressure, corruption within the civil service will remain the elephant in the room untouched and untouchable.

What Nigeria requires is an emergency national campaign one that goes beyond surface reforms and builds an unyielding culture of accountability. Civil servants must be reminded that their calling is service, not self-enrichment. Until that happens, the dream of national progress will remain hostage to a bureaucracy designed to serve itself first.

Source: DailyTrust

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