Buhari signs bill empowering AMCON to sell debtors’ properties

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law the bill on Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, amending the AMCON Act No.4, 2010.

The amended AMCON Act empowers the corporation “to 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.”

It also 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, which confers on AMCON the power to deal with debtors’ assets as it so desires.

This was disclosed by AMCON’s Head of Corporate Communication, Jude Nwauzor, in a statement, at the weekend.

The assent to the AMCON amended act by President Buhari is expected to help the debt recovery body recover the huge outstanding debt, to the tune of N4.4 trillion, owed by obligors and ensure that government realised the aim of setting up the agency.

In a related development, AMCON said it has submitted a list containing its top 1,000 obligors to the National Assembly, through the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency.

READ: Senate strengthens AMCON with power to dispose of seized assets

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, Victor Nwokolo, representing Ika Northeast/Ika South Constituency in the 9th National Assembly while receiving the list from the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of AMCON, Mr Ahmed Lawan Kuru, said the Committee called for the list so that the National Assembly would know those who are holding the country to ransom.

AMCON boss, Kuru, told Nwokolo that the agency’s hope of recovering the huge outstanding debts is heavily dependent on the judiciary because AMCON has over 4,000 cases in court.

Kuru added that more recently, due to the socio-economic downturn, the market values of assets have significantly reduced, lower than the valuation at the point of Eligible Bank Asset (EBA) purchase, making it extremely difficult to consummate sales transactions.

With the support of the National Assembly and the Judiciary, Kuru argued that recovering the total N4.4 trillion current exposure on all EBAs may be possible before AMCON’s sunset period.