Victor Ezeja
ASSET Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) said it has so far recovered only N1.4 trillion, out of a total N5 trillion debt owed it by obligors in the country.
AMCON’s Head of Corporate Communication, Jude Nwauzor, who disclosed this in a statement, noted with dissatisfaction, the continuous challenge of debt recovery encountered by the agency.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelNwauzor noted that AMCON had at different phases from the year of its establishment purchased 12,743 NPLs or Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) worth N3.8 trillion from 22 Eligible Financial Institutions (EFIs) for a purchase price of N1.8 trillion.
He said “Since then, AMCON has worked tirelessly to recover the huge debt, which is covered by various collaterals. But as the years roll by, AMCON obligors have become more daring, and hiding under all manners of legal technicalities to evade payment of their debts.”
The corporation revealed that it still had 7,902 outstanding obligors with a total outstanding loan of more than N3.1 trillion to recover due to debt recovery challenges that it is facing.
Experts have observed that debt recovery has over the years been a big burden to AMCON.
To solve the problem, the Federal Government has been asked to expand the laws that granted AMCON special debt recovery powers into a national law that would insulate the banking sector against reckless borrowers.
Mr Oluwakemi Balogun SAN, of the Oluwakemi LP firm, while speaking at the training of Solicitors, Receivers and Receiver/Managers at Eko Hotel, Lagos stated that drastic measures need to be taken by the government to save the country from losses due to unpaid debt as according him, some Nigerians in the last 25 years have perfected the act of going to different banks to borrow money and have serially failed to fulfill the repayment agreement because the country has no policy that regulates such attitude.
Balogun said debt recovery in Nigeria will continue to burden AMCON as well as the financial sector generally as long as the system allows some individuals to borrow money from banks with no intention to repay.
He suggested that to curb such trend, government need to promulgate a national law that will help lenders.
“We need to have a national law that will assist lenders (banks and financial institutions). We must have a national policy. There must be a national law on debt recovery.
“This law should not just be for only AMCON as a government agency but for the nation as a whole. That is one of the ways we can curb the bad behaviour.
“In some other economies you cannot borrow money and refuse to pay back and go scot-free. Therefore, Nigeria should not allow recalcitrant debtors to go unpunished,” Balogun said.
AMCON Managing Director/CEO, represented by the Group Head of Asset Management, AMCON, Mr Benedict Daminabo said the agency would continue to highlight the dangers of not recovering the debt because of its grave implication on the country’s economy.
Daminabo said, “We have repeatedly made the point at every opportunity that all stakeholders must view the AMCON mandate as one of serious national importance. If at sunset AMCON is unable to recover the huge debt of over N5 trillion, it becomes the debt of the Federal Government of Nigeria for which taxpayers’ monies will be used to settle.
“The implication is that the public will be made to pay for the recklessness of only a few individuals who continue to take advantage of the loopholes in our laws to escape their moral and legal obligations to repay their debts. As a matter of fact, we have reached a point in our country where all stakeholders must work together to fight the common enemy of this huge debt burden.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
