The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), has accused the courts of frustrating its debt recovery processes through the slow pace of obtaining possessory orders or orders for sale.
The Corporation made the accusation, at a retreat themed, “Asset Recovery as a tool for Enhanced growth, and Stability of the Banking sectors sustaining the Impact and Bridging the Challenges of AMCON,” which was held at the weekend in Lagos.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ahmed Kuru, was quoted in a statement as saying this during the 2022 edition of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking, and Currency retreat with the Management of AMCON among other stakeholders.
Kuru said: “Honourable members, the Corporation’s recovery processes at this point majorly depend on the Judiciary i.e., obtaining Possessory Orders or Orders for sale.
“The slow pace of our court processes and sometimes conflicting orders by the courts, especially at the Federal High Court (FHC), which is our court of first instance, frustrates recovery process. There are delays in obtaining dates in the court to hear AMCON matters.
“Deposit of judgement sum as provided for in the Act is not enforced by the courts, as some of the obligors are still active contractors of the government. They carry out businesses with government with debtor company names or other pseudo names.
“And the BOFIA Act that provided for a Special Tribunal on recovery and enforcements would have hastened the adjudication of our matters in court if the Judiciary had constituted a task force specifically in that regard,” he concluded.
Kuru, represented by the Corporation’s Group Head, Asset Management Directorate, Matthew Coker, disclosed that AMCON has so far recovered about N1.4trillion, comprising cash N681billion; Property Forfeiture N279billion; Share Forfeiture N140billion; and other strategic assets N208billion.
Similarly, a total cash recovery of over N116.9billion has been recovered on Polaris EBAs from date of acquisition to date.
Kuru, told the lawmakers that despite the Special Powers as provided by the Act, AMCON still struggles with the implementation due to the judicial system.
Deposit of judgement sum as provided for in the Act is not enforced by the courts, as some of the obligors are still active contractors of the government. They carry out businesses with government with debtor company names or other pseudo names.
Supporting recovery process
Kuru’s submission comes as the House of Representatives urged various key committees overseeing different agencies of the federal government to investigate why the Inter-agency Committee on the recovery of the huge outstanding debt owed AMCON are not working as directed by the Presidency.
The Committee Chairman on Banking and Currency, Victor Nwokolo, was quoted that the National Assembly would as a matter of urgency summon the leadership of these committees to take action.
Nwokolo noted that the agencies appear to be working at cross-purposes rather than collaborating to ensure that they support the federal government in the economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic had dealt a deadly blow on the economy and the global community.
Recall that in September 2019, Vice President Yomi Osinbajo, inaugurated an Inter-agency Committee to speedily resolve the challenges hampering the recovery over N5 trillion AMCON debts.
Osinbajo, who inaugurated the Committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, had tasked members to deploy their expertise in the assignment to ensure that AMCON meets its mandate within reasonable timeline.
Members include heads and representatives of agencies such as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
Others are heads of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), the Federal Ministry of Justice, and AMCON.
They were expected to review the status of the huge debts owed to AMCON, deliberate on practical, legal and other strategies for the recovery of the outstanding debts. The committee is chaired by Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, who is also the ICPC Chairman.
But from reports we get from AMCON, it is obvious that they are facing frustrations from not just the obligors but from the judiciary, as well as ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government.
Decisive actions
Nwokole argued that it does not sound pleasant to that Vice President Osinbajo had set up a committee that was supposed to force sister agencies to collaborate and mount pressure on AMCON obligors within the ambit of the law to ensure that these debts are resolved, and yet results are not forthcoming.
He said: “We cannot continue like this because we are answerable to the people of Nigeria and our constituencies as lawmakers. They will hold us accountable if we fail to take decisive actions that would help AMCON to recover these huge outstanding debts.”
He said in a sane clime, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are supposed to work in sync to ensure that nobody short-changes the federal government.
“But from reports we get from AMCON, it is obvious that they are facing frustrations from not just the obligors but from the judiciary, as well as ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government. There is no reason why that should happen in a decent country,” he decried.
To this end, Nwokolo said the lawmakers would soon organize another retreat that would involve about six critical stakeholders to discuss in great details strategies that would be adopted to ensure that Nigeria recovers its money, which some heartless obligors owe the country, and for which they hide under all manners of trickery to evade repayment.
He however commended the leadership of AMCON led by Kuru for their resolve to persistently chase the debtors, some of whom feel they are bigger than the country.
Nwokolo said given that the AMCON Act has been amended and already signed into law by President Buhari, the National Assembly will continue to strengthen the laws of the country on enforcement.
He said enforcement has become critical given the tactics of the debtors, which has constrained AMCON from achieving optimum results especially since public funds were used to buy these loans that helped prevent systemic collapse of the banking sector in Nigeria at the time AMCON was created in 2010.
