ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Ancillary Institutions has revealed plans to set up a joint task force to aid Asset Management Corporation Of Nigeria (AMCON) achieve its debt recovery mandate.
The Committee Chairman, Nwachukwu Eze, who made the revelation on Saturday during the 2024 stakeholders retreat with AMCON in Enugu, revealed that the joint task force will consist of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), AMCON and other relevant agencies.
He said that the Committee will also set up a judicial task force made up of judges to expedite debt related cases, adding that AMCON was facing about 1,865 cases in various courts across the country.
“We want to make it public to let the world know as we have the list of the debtors. Looking at the challenges at hand, we will at this retreat come up with a resolution to set up a joint task force committee, including AMCON to look holistically on the challenges AMCON mentioned so far.
“Most especially among them is the urgent need to establish a judicial task force of judges who will be sitting a given number of days in a week to ensure that action is being speedy up to to make sure that these obligors are made to pay the debt for the interest of the country. If political cases have lifetime, why don’t we have it in this critical period of our nation’s economic challenge to rescue the situation,” he said.
He added that “the committee is committed to working closely with AMCON and other stakeholders to ensure that our policy framework supports the Corporation’s objectives.”
On his part, the Executive Director, Operations, AMCON, Lucky Adaghe, attributed the huge debt burden on companies to the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 adversely affected Nigeria, leading to foreign portfolio withdrawals and the collapse of the stock market which lost about 80% of its value.
He revealed that out of 12,743 loans purchased over the period, 350 obligors account for over 80% of the total purchased accounts. He added that of these 350 obligors, approximately 246 are involved in legal battles with AMCON in many courts, a situation which poses significant recovery challenges to the body
