The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria began operations in 2010 and since that time, a total of One trillion naira has been retrieved from debtors and some banks.
Nigeria’s minister of finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, made the claim during the inauguration of AMCON board members in Abuja. AMCON is an initiative of the Federal Government. It was created to assist banks in recovering loans from debtors, as well as purchasing non-performing loans.
Mrs. Zainab stated that in its operations so far, about 60 percent of recoveries have been cash, while the remaining include properties and equity securities. She equally explained that AMCON’s debt obligation to the CBN is still over 5 trillion, even though 1 trillion naira has been repaid. She subsequently told the board members that Nigeria’s economic crisis has affected the contribution of the federal government, hence, they should come up with solution-driven ideas so that the outstanding loans can be retrieved eventually.
Furthermore, Zainab stated, “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.”
She equally commended that AMCON has been very progressive and its method of recovering the loans has been productive. However, the federal government will further assist in retrieving more debts. Zainab mentioned that accounts of contractors who happen to be debtors may be frozen until they clear their debts.
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