The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has submitted a list of its top 1,000 debtors to the National Assembly as part of the strategy to intensify its debt recovery drive.
According to AMCON, the total current exposure on all eligible bank assets is estimated at N4.4tn.
The agency further stated that the market value of the assets had drastically decreased below the valuation at the time of acquisition owing to the socio-economic slump, making sales transactions exceedingly difficult to complete.
In a statement made available to the press, the list of “recalcitrant obligors” was presented to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency at a retreat in Lagos.
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According to a report by the PUNCH, a top source stated that the 1,000 debtors were responsible for 90 percent of the total debt of ₦4.4tn, translating to ₦3.9tn.
The source said, ‘The 1,000 debtors are those responsible for the big-ticket debts. Many prominent Nigerians across different sectors of the economy are on the list. These people and their companies are responsible for 90 percent of the total current exposure on all eligible bank assets put at ₦4.4tn.’
The source added that if AMCON was able to recover the debts owed by the 1,000 top debtors, the story would be different from what it was currently.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), had on Thursday signed into law the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, amending the AMCON Act No.4, 2010.
The AMCON Act provides for the extension of the tenor of the resolution cost fund and grants access to the Special Tribunal established by the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act 2020, which confers on AMCON the power to, among others, “take possession, manage, foreclose or sell, transfer, assign or otherwise deal with the asset or property used as security for Eligible Bank Assets, and related matters.”
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, Mr Victor Nwokolo, who received the list from the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the corporation, Mr Ahmed Kuru, was quoted as saying that the committee called for the list so that the National Assembly would knowa “those holding the country to ransom.”
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
