Troops rescue 14 kidnapped victims at Orokam forest in Benue

By: Zagazola Makama

Nigerian Army troops of Joint Task Force Sector One, Operation Udo Ka (OPUK), in collaboration with the Neighbourhood Watch, have rescued 14 kidnapped victims during a coordinated operation at Orokam Forest, a border area linking Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State and Ogbadigbo Local Government Area of Benue State.

Sources told Zagazola Makama that the operation was conducted on Friday at about 1:30 p.m., following credible intelligence from locals indicating the presence of a suspected kidnappers’ hideout in the forest.

The source said troops deployed in Udenu LGA swiftly mobilised to the location alongside vigilante personnel of the Neighbourhood Watch.

“While approaching the hideout, the criminals opened fire on the troops. The joint team responded with a high volume of fire, forcing the kidnappers to flee in disarray and abandon the kidnapped victims,” the source said.

The sources said 14 abducted persons, who were returning from a burial ceremony over the weekend before being kidnapped, were rescued unhurt.

The sources added that preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were abducted from two separate communities Ezimo Agu in Udenu LGA, Enugu State, and Orokam in Ogbadigbo LGA, Benue State.

According to the source, the victims were subsequently handed over to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Udenu Division, for onward reunification with their families.

The source added that the troops expended 70 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition during the engagement and returned to base at about 7:21 p.m. without any incident.

The sources noted that troops had intensified monitoring of the general area to deny criminal elements freedom of action.

Troops rescue 14 kidnapped victims at Orokam forest in Benue

AFS ADVOCATES FOR GENDER PERSPECTIVES IN THE USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN NIGERIA

By: Michael Mike

An international non-governmental organisation, Avocats Sans Frontieres (ASF) France has revealed that no fewer than 82 female Nigerians are currently on death row in various correctional centres across the country even as it advocated for gender perspective in application of death penalty.

The advocacy was made at the two-day workshop organised by ASF to champion the course of the female inmates who are on death row as the World Women’s Rights Organisation celebrates in Abuja the 16 Days Advocacy on Gender Based Violence.

At the workshop themed: “Capacity-building Session on Mainstreaming Gender Perspective in the Use of the Death Penalty” the Country Director, ASF France in Nigeria, Angela Uzoma-Iwuchukwu said the statistics showed that the situation in Nigeria is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, with those on death row somehow neglected and forgotted.

Uzoma-Iwuchukwu further said: “We strongly believe that these women, who have often been neglected, forgotten, because they are behind bars and on death row need a voice, we have decided to raise their voices and their peculiar circumstances.

“And this is because there are gender issues around the application of the capital punishment. It is often projected as being neutral, but the death penalty is not neutral.

“There are gender biases all across the criminal justice system, starting from the point of arrest, conviction and even incarceration of women who are facing the death penalty,” she said.

She added that “a lot of these women are victims of domestic violence who often when they react and it leads to maybe homicide cases, the criminal justice system fails to recognise them as victims as they go through the justice system.”

She went on to say, what we see in practice in Nigeria is that women are subjected to further brutality and gender biases within the set-up.

She said: “And we argue that these women are in fact convicted and tried for more than their crimes.

“They are tried for more than the crimes that they have committed. They are tried for being women who dared to commit crimes.

“And this is the gender bias, some of the gender bias that we see. There are several other issues that pertain to women and we see that they are not in any way taken into account.

“Now a lot of these women, we see issues around poverty, cross-cutting issues around poverty and how this affects women.”

In the same vein, the Founder and Chief Facilitator, Edeika Trauma Care Centre and Equity Advocates, Mrs. Ene Ede, emphatically kicked against Death Penalty in all forms. She believed life is sacred.

She said: “Anything that has to do with taking life is of utmost important to God, to humanity, to nature and to our country because, it is about deflection of human resources, it is about grieving, it is about injustice because most of the time you find element of injustice embedded in this life sentencing. So it is very problematic. If we look at it with another eye, the better for us. It is not something we should be in hurry to do.

“Therefore, it will be better to abolish death penalty in Nigeria. That is not to say we want to encourage criminality, even with the law in place there is escalation of criminality. We need to look at the justice system again with human eye, with empathy, with patriotism, because it is citizens and human beings they are dealing with and not animals”

Ene said life is too delicate to be toy with, adding that we should look at the area of the law that makes us vulnerable, that the level of its vulnerabilities is too high.

AFS ADVOCATES FOR GENDER PERSPECTIVES IN THE USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN NIGERIA

Inaugural MOFI Award to Promote Excellence in Corporate Governance- Takang

By: Michael Mike

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.

He noted that MOFI Corporate Governance Scorecard revolves around key pillars that reflect global best practices adapted to Nigeria’s context, including effectiveness and independence of boards; robust 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 stated that 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.

He disclosed that in the run-up to the awards next year, 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.

He said once the technical review is completed, 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.

Takang said: “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.”

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.

He revealed the intention of the government would be to recognise agencies and their leaders who demonstrate high standards of transparency, accountability, and performance in managing public assets.

Edun said: “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.”

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.

He added that 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.

In another development, the Managing Director and CEO of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Dr. Armstrong Takang, has dismissed the notion that the government should not be involved in the business of driving economic growth in the country.

He described this view as a fallacy, asserting that governments at all levels play a critical role in the development of any nation.

Takang highlighted that countries like China have proven that government intervention in the economy, alongside private sector participation, can lead to success. He emphasized that this is the kind of capitalism Nigeria should aim for.

He cited Singapore Airlines, which has been owned by a government agency similar to MOFI, as an example of a successful state-owned enterprise. The airline has remained a leader in global aviation for decades, showcasing the potential of government involvement in business.

“The government has a pivotal role to play because of its sovereign status and its ability to access resources that the private sector can’t,” Takang explained. “There are certain amounts of capital the government can mobilize where private companies simply don’t have access.”
 
He added that: “It’s a fallacy to suggest that only the private sector can grow businesses. At MOFI, we believe the government can leverage its sovereign status to drive business and create opportunities for the private sector, especially where they lack the necessary capital. The private sector still needs the government. And we believe state-owned enterprises have a significant role to play in the economy.”

Takang also discussed the MOFI Excellence Awards, which aim to foster a culture of governance, excellence, and performance in state-owned enterprises. The awards will serve as a tool to evaluate corporate governance, track contributions to GDP, job creation, and other economic sectors, and encourage these enterprises to prioritize impact and accountability.
 
“We want state-owned enterprises to perform at their best, and that’s why we introduced the MOFI Excellence Awards,” Takang said, adding. “The goal is to provide a framework for assessing these organizations and ensuring they contribute positively to the economy.”

He noted that some of MOFI’s portfolio businesses have already begun prioritizing dividend payments, signaling a shift toward better performance and accountability. 
 
“By institutionalizing these awards, we are creating a culture of excellence in corporate governance,” he added.

Inaugural MOFI Award to Promote Excellence in Corporate Governance- Takang