By Suleyman A Ndanusa PhD OON
The ordinary Nigerian probably does not spend much time worrying about institutional mandates. Most people are understandably more concerned about whether roads are improving, businesses are growing, jobs are being created and the economy is becoming stronger. Yet, without perhaps realising it, they are asking a much deeper question.
What exactly should our public institutions be delivering for us?
It is a fair question.
When government establishes an institution, appoints a board, recruits professionals and commits public resources to its operations, citizens are entitled to know how success will be measured. More importantly, they are entitled to know whether those measures truly reflect the purpose for which the institution exists.
That is why I have come to believe that every major public institution should have a small number of clearly understood national performance indicators not merely for management, but for the public itself. Institutions are ultimately judged less by what they say about themselves than by the value they create for the country.
This thought has occupied my mind as I have reflected on the evolving roles of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
Both institutions occupy important places within Nigeria’s economic architecture, but they were never intended to become replicas of one another. Their greatest contribution to the country will come not from doing similar things, but from excelling at different things.
If that is so, then their scorecards should also be different.
For MOFI, I would expect the principal question to be remarkably simple.
Is the Federal Government becoming wealthier because MOFI exists?
That single question tells us almost everything we need to know.
It asks whether government finally knows what it owns. Whether public assets are properly valued. Whether underperforming investments are being revived. Whether commercial enterprises are being better governed. Whether dividend income is improving. Whether dormant assets are being transformed into productive ones. Whether the sovereign balance sheet is becoming stronger with each passing year.
Those, to my mind, are the numbers that deserve public attention.
MOFI should become the institution that quietly but steadily improves the quality of government ownership.
It should know every significant commercial asset belonging to the Federation.
It should know what each asset is worth.
It should know whether it is creating value or destroying it.
And where value is being destroyed, it should have both the courage and the competence to do something about it.
Its greatest achievement will not necessarily be the number of transactions it completes.
Nor should it be the number of assets it disposes of.
Selling an asset is sometimes good business, but selling the family house because the roof leaks is rarely regarded as sound wealth management.
The better question is whether the family has become wealthier.
The same principle applies to government.
The public should therefore judge MOFI by whether Nigeria’s sovereign commercial wealth is growing, becoming more productive and being managed with greater discipline than before.
NSIA, in my view, should answer a different question.
Is Nigeria attracting more long-term investment because NSIA exists?
Notice the distinction.
MOFI begins with assets already owned.
NSIA begins with opportunities yet to be created.
MOFI strengthens the sovereign balance sheet.
NSIA uses sovereign capital, institutional credibility and global partnerships to multiply productive investment across the economy.
Its success should therefore be measured not only by the return it earns on its own investments, but also by the confidence it inspires in others.
How much additional capital did it attract?
How many strategic partnerships did it build?
How many nationally significant projects reached financial close because NSIA was involved?
How many investment ecosystems became possible because credible partners were willing to come to the table?
Those questions reflect NSIA’s unique comparative advantage.
Increasingly, its greatest asset may not simply be the capital it invests.
It is the confidence it brings.
Confidence is difficult to measure, but remarkably easy to recognise.
When respected institutions are willing to invest alongside you, confidence has already begun to work.
This is why I believe MOFI and NSIA should never feel obliged to compete for the same headlines.
Their missions are different.
Their strengths are different.
Their scorecards should be different.
One should become Africa’s benchmark for sovereign asset stewardship.
The other should become Africa’s benchmark for sovereign investment partnerships.
That is not duplication.
That is intelligent institutional design.
Perhaps the time has come for Nigeria to ask every major public institution a simple question.
Not how busy have you been.
Not how many conferences have you attended.
Not how many memoranda have you produced.
But what measurable national value have you created?
After all, institutions eventually become what they are measured against.
If we reward activity, we shall get activity.
If we reward announcements, we shall get announcements.
If we reward lasting national value, we stand a much better chance of getting institutions that quietly build national prosperity.
That, I believe, is the public conversation worth having.
Because, in the end, citizens are not interested in institutional boundaries.
They are interested in institutional outcomes.
And perhaps that is exactly how it should be.
Suleyman A. Ndanusa, PhD, OON, is an economist, lawyer, strategic studies scholar, and public policy thinker and practitioner with extensive experience in financial markets, regulation, governance, national Security and development.
