The Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Uba Sani, has reiterated the willingness of the National Assembly to continually support the debt recovery efforts of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
He said such support is critical because AMCON remains a strategic national institution that plays an important and pivotal role in helping to stabilise the economy.
The Senator spoke at a one-day retreat, themed: “Asset Recovery as a Tool for Enhanced Growth and Stability of the Banking Sector Sustaining the Impact and Bridging the Challenges of AMCON,” which was held recently in Niger State.
AMCON is saddled with the tough assignment of recovering nearly N5trillion owed the country by debtors, who for years now hide under all manners of technicalities to tie AMCON up in different Courts to stall repayment.
Sani, represented by Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi, commended the management of AMCON for remaining resolute, and appealed to sister agencies of the federal government and all stakeholders to support the debt recovery drive of AMCON.
The Act 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 (EBAs), and related matters.
The lawmaker also appreciated the contribution of the Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye-led Inter-Agency Committee set up by the Federal Government in 2019, to ensure that debtors are held accountable.
The work of the committee has brought many obligors to the negotiation table.
Recall that to tighten the noose on the obligors, President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2021, signed into law the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, amending the AMCON Act No.4, 2010.
The Act provides for the extension of the tenor of the Resolution Cost Fund (RCF) and grants access to the Special Tribunal established by the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act 2020.
This 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 (EBAs), and related matters.”
