350 businessmen, firms owe AMCON N3.6 trillion

11 Jan 350 businessmen, firms owe AMCON N3.6 trillion

The Management of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has said 350 debtors owe it N3.6 trillion, an amount higher than the N3.12 trillion set aside this year by the Federal Government for debt servicing.

AMCON Group Head of Enforcement, Joshua Ikioda, disclosed this at two-day training for Federal High Court Legal Assistants and Court Registrars in Abuja at the weekend.

Although Ikioda he did not name any of the debtors, he said they represent 80 percent of the N4.4 trillion of the total outstanding debt to the corporation.

He called on all agencies of the Federal Government and all stakeholders to join AMCON’s debt recovery efforts to guide against the huge opportunity cost of not recovering it

He said: “This colossal outstanding debt of N4.4 trillion is bigger than the N3.85 trillion capital expenditure budget of the federal government of Nigeria in 2021. It is also bigger than the N3.12 trillion total foreign debt service and  N3.7 trillion personnel cost for the year,” he said.

“It is also bigger than the N3.12 trillion for total foreign debt service for 202.”

The AMCON, created in 2010 as a result of the global economic crises of 2008/2009 which led to several non-performing loans (NPLs) that crippled banks’ balance sheet positions, initially bought NPLs worth N5.4 trillion from the deposit money banks.

And its mandate was to recover the NPLs from the recalcitrant debtors, mainly billionaires cut across several sectors of the economy- oil and gas, manufacturing, mining among others, and return the funds to government coffers to support the economy.

After over nine years into its operation, AMCON has recovered only N1 trillion through assets seizures, forfeiture or cash payments.

The Amended AMCON Act, which was signed by President Buhari, gave AMCON sweeping powers to recover debts owed by obligors.

In his keynote address during the training, AMCON Managing Director/CEO Ahmed Kuru said “the instrumentality of the courts” posed huge challenges to the corporation’s debt recovery efforts.

He said: “We are just a government recovery agency saddled with the responsibility of purchasing non-performing loans from banks and ensuring it is paid back using the instrumentality of the law.

“Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be that easy, through the instrumentality of the courts as we encountered a lot of challenges.”.

Kuru, who was represented by AMCON Executive Director, Eberechukwu Uneze, said the obligors are getting wiser by the day and are deliberately causing orchestrated legal delays knowing that AMCON has a sunset date.