A National Awakening on Public Wealth
The contradiction of a resource-rich state with consistently underfunded budgets has long plagued Nigeria. As a large portion of its internal riches remained idle, unaccounted for, or poorly managed, the nation has regularly turned to foreign sources for loans, from oil booms that turned into busts to the ongoing battle of debt servicing. Today, the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), led by Dr. Armstrong Takang, is rewriting that history. The National Assets Register (NAR), its flagship program, aims to list, value, and maximise all federal assets, including oil pipelines, airports, schools, and intangible assets like intellectual property and licenses.
According to official statistics, Nigeria’s federal asset base was only about ₦1.5 trillion when MOFI started its job. This amount has already increased to almost ₦38.3 trillion from the audit of just 20 enterprises (BusinessDay, 2025). That leap reveals the amount of economic capital that had been hidden and goes beyond a simple accounting adjustment. The NAR provides both a mirror and a map for a country dealing with budget shortfalls, exchange rate instability, and infrastructure deficiencies: a picture of the wealth of the people and a guide on how to use it to spur economic growth.
What Exactly is the National Assets Register?
The National Assets Register is essentially a centralised database created to keep track of all federally owned assets. It combines disparate, ministry-by-ministry records into a unified, validated ledger, eliminating the need for fragmentation. There are nine categories into which assets are classified:
- Corporate assets – government stakes in companies, from NNPC Ltd. to minority holdings in banks and telecoms.
- Concessions – public-private partnership agreements, toll roads, and service concessions.
- Real estate – federal landholdings, embassies, government offices, and residential estates.
- Infrastructure – roads, airports, rail lines, ports, schools, and hospitals.
- Energy assets – refineries, pipelines, and related oil and gas infrastructure.
- Extractive assets – mineral deposits and mining rights.
- Power sector assets – power plants, transmission lines, and electricity distribution stakes.
- Intangible assets – spectrum licenses, patents, trademarks, and software.
- Financial assets – bonds, securities, sovereign wealth investments.
The NAR offers the transparency required to unlock the economic potential of these holdings through capital market instruments, privatisation, concessions, or better management by establishing a single “source of truth” (MOFI, 2025).
Why a National Asset Register Matters
The financial strain on Nigeria has increased recently. Over 70% of federal revenue has gone towards debt servicing, while the nation’s infrastructure deficit is projected to be worth over $100 billion. The conventional answer has been to borrow, frequently at ridiculous rates. An option is provided by the NAR: mobilise the nation’s existing assets.
Public assets like Nigerian Airways, NITEL, and Ajaokuta Steel have been seen as emblems of deterioration for many years. If left unchecked, they produced neither income nor employment. Even worse, they hardly ever updated their book values, which led to a false impression of the government’s wealth. MOFI aims to turn inert holdings into sources of fiscal sustainability by valuing and incorporating these into a functioning portfolio.
A properly kept asset register serves as a tool for strategic nation-building and is more than just an accounting exercise. The NAR enables governmental organisations to:
- Track and manage assets more efficiently, ensuring they are used productively.
- Boost transparency and accountability, minimizing theft, underutilization, or decay.
- Unlock revenue by leveraging underutilized assets through sales, leases, or public-private partnerships (PPP), enabling liquidity injection into the economy.
- Support strategic planning, forming the backbone for capital allocation, infrastructure development, and industrial policy.
In essence, the NAR is both a mirror and a roadmap—a reflection of national wealth and a guide for how to use it.
Governance and Transparency
The implementation of a Corporate Governance Scorecard for state-owned enterprises is among MOFI’s most important reforms. The scorecard evaluates every organization’s contribution in four areas: capital growth, dividends, liquidity, and economic effect. It was established in collaboration with the Institute of Directors, the Financial Reporting Council, and the Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria (BusinessDay, 2025).
Every year, the results will be published, and the MOFI Excellence Awards will honour the best performance. This action reflects a culture change in Nigeria’s state business management, moving away from political favouritism and towards quantifiable results. At a recent press briefing, Takang stated, “Nigeria must behave like a premier league country if we wish to join the trillion-dollar economy club.” “Corporate governance is the foundation of strong institutions; it is not a theoretical concept” (BusinessDay, 2025).
From Hidden Value to Active Capital
The increase in asset valuation from ₦1.5 trillion to ₦38.3 trillion is just the start. After a thorough audit is finished and idle assets are released, MOFI predicts that the whole portfolio may eventually exceed ₦100 trillion (Proshare, 2025).
However, unlocking does not always entail complete privatisation. Among the options are:
- Listing stakes on the Nigerian Exchange to deepen capital markets.
- Concessioning infrastructure assets like ports and toll roads to private operators.
- Asset-backed securities or bonds, monetizing future revenue streams.
- Public-private partnerships, especially in energy and transport.
With these strategies, the government can maintain ownership while producing cash for pressing needs like healthcare, education, and electricity. A tectonic realignment in asset visibility is indicated by this change. It adheres to a larger imperative: Nigeria must cease allowing its industrial legacies, such as Ajaokuta Steel, Nigerian Airways, and NITEL, to remain idle, unaccountable artefacts. Rather, these call for rewards, purpose, and governance.
Technology Backbone
The digital platform that powers the NAR was created to enable asset tracking and real-time data collection. The system receives input from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and MOFI enforces uniform reporting guidelines. Annual Asset Reports, which provide information on dividend flows, governance results, and performance trends, will also be made available to the general public (MOFI, 2025).
This visibility conveys to both investors and citizens that Nigeria takes transparency seriously, which has both symbolic and practical implications. It gives investors peace of mind that public funds are being handled responsibly.
Integration with Nigeria’s Economic Strategy
In addition to improving public accounting, the NAR serves as a foundation for future advancements. By releasing liquidity from idle assets and giving the government’s shareholder returns a priority, MOFI hopes to reach its capital base goal of ₦100 trillion (Proshare, 2025).
Major infrastructure could be financed while maintaining public ownership by utilising assets through structured buyouts, PPPs, listings, or bond offerings. Improved asset data will also increase the depth of the capital market; if mobilised, these assets might compete with the Nigerian Exchange’s present market capitalisation of ₦19 trillion (BusinessDay, 2025).
Asset reform has been emphasised by the Tinubu administration as being essential to maintaining fiscal stability. The NAR is a component of a larger package to diversify revenues, which also includes tax modernisation and subsidy reforms. Nigeria wants to increase energy exports, decrease its dependency on foreign borrowing, and create 10 million tonnes of liquid steel a year by 2030. Capital is needed for all of this, and the NAR provides one means to raise it domestically.
Additionally, industrial policy can be guided by the asset data. For instance, authorities can plan housing projects or industrial parks if they are aware of the entire size of the government’s real estate holdings. In a similar vein, visualising intangible assets such as spectrum licenses helps shape policy for the digital economy.
Obstacles and Risks
Challenges still exist despite advancements. Not every MDA has provided accurate or comprehensive data. Obstacles include competing legal ownership claims, poor record-keeping, and resistance to transparency. There are challenges in standardising assessments across industries, from agriculture to refineries.
The monetisation step presents an additional risk. Asset sales or concessions could duplicate previous mistakes, in which public wealth was transferred to private hands at a low cost without producing significant economic gains, if strict control is not in place. Public reporting, independent audits, and safeguards will be crucial.
Nigeria is not the only country pursuing this goal. By actively managing state assets, nations like Malaysia (via Khazanah Nasional) and Singapore (through Temasek Holdings) have created top-tier sovereign investment entities. Nearer to home, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) of South Africa has influenced the country’s economy by using pension assets.
The establishment of the NAR is a first step towards MOFI becoming a sovereign wealth fund, putting Nigeria in a position to use its balance sheet strategically as opposed to passively.
Conclusion: From Dormant to Dynamic
On the surface, the National Assets Register could seem like a bureaucratic database. In actuality, it signifies a significant change in the political economy of Nigeria. MOFI is providing the country with a new fiscal path that is less reliant on borrowing from outside sources and more anchored in domestic resources by bringing attention to trillions of dollars in hidden riches, enforcing governance, and unleashing capital.
Although there is still more to be done, the path is clear: Nigeria is learning to view its public resources as useful instruments for growth rather than as abandoned artefacts. The nation might transition from crisis management to long-term wealth building—converting public property into public prosperity—if the NAR is implemented with rigour.
References
BusinessDay. (2025, August 7). FG-owned assets worth N38.3 trn under MOFI audit as reforms deepen. BusinessDay. https://businessday.ng/news/article/fg-owned-assets-worth-n38-3tn-under-mofi-audit-as-reforms-deepen/
Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI). (2025). National Assets Register. https://mofi.com.ng/nar/
Proshare. (2025, July 15). MOFI moves to unlock idle assets to achieve N100 tn capital target. Proshare Nigeria. https://proshare.co/articles/mofi-moves-to-unlock-idle-assets-to-achieve-n100tn-capital-target
Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI). (2025). About the National Assets Register (NAR). Retrieved from https://mofi.com.ng/nar/ (MOFI)
