As the nation grapples with the N2.2 trillion budget deficit in the 2016 appropriation bill, the Senate has backed the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in the recovery of N5.4 trillion to corporate entities.
Ahmed Kuru, managing director, AMCON, who led a delegation of the Corporation to the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions on Monday, made the disclosure to newsmen after an executive session with members of the committee.
Established in 2010, AMCON aims at stabilising and reviving the Nigerian financial system by efficiently resolving the non-performing loan assets of companies in the Nigerian economy.
Also, the Corporation was used to bail out lenders and buy loans from industries whose interests included aviation, gasoline marketing and manufacturing.
In an interview with newsmen in Abuja, Kuru said President Muhammadu Buhari and the Senate had expressed readiness to ensure that the debts owed the Corporation were repaid.
According to Kuru, the Senate assured that it would use all legal means to recover the funds, and lamented the extravagant lifestyle of the debtors despite owing huge amount of money.
“We have seen that most of the debtors in AMCON are big men that fly in private jets, live in big mansions. They have taken money and they are not paying back.
”The Senate is really disturbed and ready to do anything under the law to ensure that the N5.4 trillion that is outstanding obligation of AMCON is repaid the Corporation,” he said.
He said after reading the body language of the President, some of the debtors were currently in talks with the Corporation to repay the debts.
He said: “The passion the Senate has shown to us is unprecedented. Because we showed to them in its raw form the challenge that we are having, particularly now that the economy is not doing very well. And where you have less than 5 percent, less than 300 people, accounting for more than 80 percent of the outstanding obligation of AMCON. That is very disturbing.”
On the deadline to recover the debts, he said: “You don’t recover that in a day, neither do you recover that in a year. Our intention is not to kill any business, our intention is for the businesses to perform, if there is any help they want from us as AMCON, we help them but the accounts must perform.
“So, it’s not an event, it’s a process. Because somebody owes us N120 billion, you don’t expect anybody to bring that in one year. But come and talk to us so that we have an agreement and understanding. And then your business is running and you are paying obligation and everybody is happy.”
Earlier, chairman of the Committee, Rafiu Ibrahim, said the meeting was conveyed to interact with stakeholders under the Committee and find out their operational challenges.
