Recovery of N5trn debt burden, AMP scheme pivotal — AMCON CEO
Five years after the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) launched the Asset Management Partners (AMPs) scheme, the Managing Director/CEO of AMCON, Mr Ahmed Kuru at the weekend described the initiative as a major tool in the recovery efforts of the Corporation and key to its success. Kuru spoke in Lagos at a 2-day training for Asset Management Partners (AMPs) of AMCON in Lagos.
The AMPs scheme of the government agency currently has about 6,000 Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) at different stages of resolution and about 3,000 matters at various Courts in the country. Through the AMPs, AMCON said it is essential each of the cases are properly captured as they progress in the Courts.
Recall that AMCON is chasing recovery of over N5trillion from obligors that have remained unwilling to repay their debt.
Of this humongous figure, the government agency had informed Nigerians that only 350 obligors alone account for a whopping N3.6trillion, which is over 82per cent of the outstanding exposure, which if recovered would be enough for the Federal Government to actualize a good number of projects such as roads, railways, electricity generation and distribution, hospitals, and the like across the country.
The AMCON Boss noted that with all these facts and its negative effect to the economy of Nigeria, the AMP concept, which is playing a pivotal role in the recovery exercise must scale up their efforts because it would not be fair to allow this crop of obligors that have collectively destroyed the commonwealth of Nigerians escape justice, which is why AMCON would continue to interact and cross-fertilise ideas and provide them with the necessary assistance they would require to excel as recovery agents.
Kuru who was represented at the event by Mr Aliyu Kalgo in his keynote address at the beginning of the training session stated that since the inception of the AMP scheme, AMCON has made significant milestones, even though the application of the concept and achievement have not mitigated some key challenges. He said it is for that reason that AMCON has and will continue to engage with different stakeholders especially the AMPs to ensure that they understand the AMCON Act as amended.
He said, “As we are aware, the AMCON Act was amended by the National Assembly and subsequently assented to by His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. This amendment further empowered in the Corporation special debt recovery powers and other prerogatives to aid its recovery of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) from recalcitrant debtors that are hiding under different tactics to delay repayment of their debt obligation.”
“To ensure coherence of the amended Act with the AMCON Federal High Court Rules, the Honorable Chief Judge, Hon. Justice J.T. Tsoho was gracious enough to set up a committee to finetune the current AMCON Rules of Court to cover the amended provisions of the Act. This process is now in its concluding stages and it is therefore imperative that you (AMPs) as our pivotal stakeholders are brought up to speed with the new provisions of the Rules.”
Some of the papers presented at the training programme include, “AMCON Federal High Court Rules 2020 and 2019 Amendments to the AMCON Act: A Practical and Robust Analysis,” by Mr. Muyiwa Balogun of Olaniwun Ajayi LP; “Effective Case Management and Reporting,” by the duo of Mr. Jude Orhotowho, Head, Information Technology, AMCON and Mr. Brian Ike-Echie, Head, Case Management, AMCON.
Other papers include “Asset Tracing as a Debt Recovery Tool,” by Mr. Bisi Oni of TAC Professional as well as “Practical Aspects of the A-Z of AMCON Receivership,” by Mr. Robert Odehi of Dele Oye & Associates amongst others.
The training, which had “The utility of the Federal High Court Proceedings Rules and Critical Complementary Strategies in the AMCON Debt Recovery by AMPs” as theme was second major interaction with stakeholders on the 2019 AMCON Amendment Act by the National Assembly and its assent by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR was organised by Legal Academy led by its Director General, Dr. Fatihu A. Abba.
