SAN FRANCISCO, May 30, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has inaugurated a Presidential Inter-Agency Committee on recovery of loans granted to commercial banks and corporate organisations by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
This was revealed in a statement by Salihu Isah, Spokesman of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
THEWILL recalls that AMCON was established by the Act of the National Assembly to prevent the collapse of the Nigerian banking sector following the banking crisis as a result of the Bank Consolidation Reforms in 2008.
“The above situation led to huge indebtedness for banks, which culminated in the eventual purchase of the toxic loans by AMCON in order to stabilise the banking sector, and by extension the Nigerian economy,” the Minister said in the statement.
“However, the debtors who cut across the aviation, banking and oil and gas sectors, failed to repay the loans while some of them had resulted to court actions all in their bid to frustrate the loan recovery efforts of AMCON, surmising that in some cases, this was with active conspiracy of some financial institutions, among others.
“This resulted to the President’s gracious approval and directive for the establishment of an Inter-Agency Committee by President Muhammadu Buhari to effectively pursue the loan recovery.
“The Committee will ascertain how government agencies can collaborate to support AMCON’s recovery effort in; (a) ensuring payments due to Obligors are made to AMCON, (b) the possibility of going into a Joint Venture Agreement with AMCON (c) the acquisition of forfeited assets from AMCON and (d) take-over of recalcitrant businesses/companies where feasible.
“It is also expected to establish the working framework for the Committee such that AMCON could have direct contact with the agencies for assistance and report be made to the Committee on achievement and challenges as well as to design and come up with workable strategies to pursue aggressive recovery of the AMCON loans.”
Members of the Committee include Abubakar Malami (SAN), Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as Chairman; Hadi Sirika, Honourable Minister of State (Aviation); Solomon Arase, Inspector General of Police; and Ibrahim Magu, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
