FG goes tough on AMCON debtors

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says the Federal Government has concluded tough measures to deal with both institutions and individuals still indebted to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

Osinbajo who spoke while addressing some board members and management of AMCON, led by the Board Chairman, Dr. Muiz Banire, at the State House, Abuja, said the FG is going tough on the debtors to retrieve the over N5trn debt.

According to him, measures to be deployed against the debtors was stopping them from doing business with government, vowing that government would not fold its arms and allow AMCON debtors walk the streets free. “I think the time has come for us (Federal Government) to set some examples with some of these top debtors of AMCON, which I believe will set a good example and serve as deterrent to others,’’ the vice president said.

The vice president lamented that the debtors had made it impossible for AMCON to resolve its outstanding N5 trillion debt, thereby holding the entire nation to ransom with their bad behaviour.

He added that there were plans by government to set up an inter-agency collaboration framework that would comprise relevant government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, and supervised by the office of the vice president to ensure that institutions and individuals that were indebted to AMCON were not allowed to do business with government henceforth.

Osinbajo, however, said the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari will no longer tolerate a set of few people to owe AMCON huge sums of money and walk freely on the streets in the country.

Osinbajo said in the next couple of days, he would invite the AMCON team, alongside other relevant MDAs, to discuss and fine-tune plans on how to ensure that anybody or agency that is a debtor to AMCON was completely made to face the wrath of the Federal Government.