AMCON recovers over N1trn from debtors – Minister

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, has recovered over N1 trillion from debtors whose loans were taken over by the corporation since its inception in 2010.

Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed disclosed this in Abuja while inaugurating the board of AMCON under the chairmanship of Muiz Banire, SAN.

She also disclosed that cash accounted for 60 per cent, while non-cash assets such as properties and equity securities accounted for the balance of 40 per cent of the recovered amount.

The minister further stated that AMCON’s repayment of its indebtedness to CBN was over N1tn, while its total debt obligation to the CBN currently stood in excess of N5tn, explaining that going by the current economic realities, the Federal Government could not afford to write-off the debts in the short term.

Ahmed, while calling on the new management board to come up with creative strategies to recover the outstanding loans, said it had now become a moral obligation for the government to recover the outstanding liabilities.

“At inception, the corporation acquired over 12,000 non-performing loans worth approximately N3.7tn from 22 commercial banks; injected N22tn as financial accommodation to ten banks.

“The direct impact of that action is seen in the protection of about N3.66tn of depositors’ funds and approximately 14,000 jobs were saved.

“AMCON has been able to recover over N1tn since inception to the 2018 year end.

“AMCON’s total debt obligation to the CBN is currently in excess of N5tn. It is evident that the Federal Government cannot afford to write off this debt in the short term hence, our moral obligation to pursue obligors and recover the debts owed”, the minister said.

Admitting that the corporation had made significant progress in its management of toxic assets in the financial sector, the minister said government would do all it could to recover debts to AMCON.

According to her, payment to any contractor in this category might be frozen until such obligations to AMCON were met.