The Senate on Thursday gave its support to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria’s (AMCON’s) plans to publish names of debtors responsible for 80 percent of its N4.8 trillion bad debt.
The Chairman of Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, made the Legislature’s position on the issue known in his keynote address delivered at a 2-day retreat to discuss the AMCON Act Amendment Bill.
The lawmaker noted since AMCON had, over the past seven years, done its best to ensure debtors repay the debts but was still encountering resistance from obligor, the Senate has no option than to urge the corporation to compile and publish the list of all the debtors.
The Senator however urged the AMCON’s to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to propose that the President issues an Executive Order on seizure of assets of persons who are indebted to AMCON.
According to the lawmaker, the Senate plans to have serious discussions as soon as possible with major stakeholders such as CBN, FMF, Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and relevant committees from the legislature among others, on why AMCON is not operating performing, including the corporation’s funding model, to properly re-position it to fulfil its mandate.
Earlier in his presentation at the forum, AMCON’s Managing Director, Mr. Ahmed Kuru, reminded the Senate Committee that the implication of failure by AMCON to recover its debt extended beyond the economic cost.
Kuru said that after seven years of negotiating with the obligors without much to show for the corporation’s debt recovery, it decided to adopt the strict enforcement approach as a way of compelling the recalcitrant debtors to liquidate their outstanding liabilities
