Senate Supports AMCON’s Plan to Publish Debtors List

The Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, has said that the legislature is ready to empower the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to go after recalcitrant debtors.
He said that it was the only way AMCON can meet its aspirations of achieving the tough mandate for which it was set up in 2010.
He said since AMCON over the past seven years have done its best to resolve these debts but are still encountering resistance from obligor, the 8th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the able leadership of Senator Dr. Bukola Saraki, would have no option than to urge AMCON to compile and publish the list of all these debtors on major daily newspapers in the country.
The move, he argued would place before Nigerians those who are holding the nation’s economy to ransom since they account for 80 per cent of AMCON’s N4.8trillion obligation.
The Senator, who spoke at the opening of a 2-day retreat at Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos where they convened to discuss the all-important AMCON Act Amendment Bill, hinted that the Upper Chamber, as part of its oversight function, has decided that AMCON at this critical time in its lifespan must be given all the support it requires to perform as expected by all Nigerians.
He however urged the Management of AMCON to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to propose that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces issues an Executive Order on seizure of assets of persons who are indebted to AMCON.

In a keynote address he delivered at the commencement of the retreat, Sen. Ibrahim said the upper chamber is intent on having serious discussions as soon as possible with major stakeholders such as the CBN, the FMF, the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and relevant committees from the legislature among others, where issues hindering AMCON from performing optimally including the funding model of AMCON would be discussed to enable the recovery agency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria finish its assignment on a high.
According to him the Upper Chamber will at this stage bare its fangs by amending the AMCON Act because AMCON has been a key stabilizing and re-vitalizing tool in the Nigerian financial system and so will be supported by the legislature to enable the Corporation achieve its statutory objectives. He said the legislature therefore supports the proposed plan by AMCON to publish the list of especially the 350 obligors that accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the total huge debt of AMCON.
Earlier in his presentation, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, AMCON, Mr. Ahmed Kuru reminded the Senate Committee that the ramifications for failure by AMCON to recover its debt, principally owed to the CBN, cannot be quantified as it goes beyond economic cost. He disclosed that AMCON’s total debt obligation of N4.8trillion represents more than 55 per cent of the 2018 national budget. Given the current demands on the Federal Government therefore, Kuru said he is convinced that it is doubtful that the government can afford to expense AMCON’s debt in the short term.