Despite N4.3tn Liabilities, Senate Says AMCON Still Relevant, No Need for Its Scrapping

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions yesterday, justified the continued existence of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) despite the challenges confronting the agency.

AMCON is saddled with the statutory responsibility amongst others, of recovering the non-performing loan hitherto disbursed by banks to their customers.

The Managing Director of the agency, Ahmed Kuru, led top officials of the agency to the Senate to present his 2023 financial records and to defend the 2024 budget estimates.

Kuru, told the panel that his administration had been able to recover about N648 billion out of the agency’s total liabilities of N5 trillion as of September 20, 2023.

Some members of the Senate panel expressed dissatisfaction with the agency’s performance in the outgoing fiscal year and wondered if it would not be better for the National Assembly to scrap it.

For instance, a member of the committee, Senator Sani Musa, wondered while, despite its huge liabilities, AMCON was not aggressive enough in its loan recovery drives.

He said, “Most of the loans were owed by individual companies which were never sanctioned and at the end of the day, the same company would go back to buy-back their asset that AMCON had hitherto taken over. Are we going to continue like this?

“It is not only about defending budget, it is about seeing the effect of the Appropriation, we need to know whether it is working. Or are we just creating a job for those we can protect?

“Will it not be better to scrap AMCON since it seems to have lost its statutory mandate?”

Speaking in similar vein, another member of the committee, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, lamented the huge losses suffered by the assets recovery agency in the outgoing fiscal year.

Ibrahim said, “Your total comprehensive profit and loss, and it came in to a loss of N145 billion. This calls for concern.

“Your net operating profit and loss is N126 billion. What is responsible for all these big losses? You were created to collect bank’s bad loans.

“Even if you’re now regulators to the debtors, why are you incurring losses? Your balance sheet is not looking so good. Again, why are you buying cash-collateralised loans?”

Attempts by the Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Tokunbo Abiru, to defend the agency’s submissions did not go down well with some members and the panel had to dissolve into a closed session.

After about 30 minutes, the doors of the committee room were thrown open and Abiru addressed journalist on the outcome of the executive session.

Abiru said, “The committee has agreed that there is the need for a strong financial system stability hence agencies like AMCON is still desirable.

“We also believe that the role of AMCON is further underscored by the fact that it was set up using a model that it would help us to tidy up the challenges that we had in the financial system in the past.

“The only challenge that we had today is that we need to have a definite time that all the obligations that are hanging on the throat of AMCON must be redeemed.

“The conclusion is that we will continue to work with AMCON and other agencies to fashion out a model that would make AMCON openly wound down its obligation at the possible shortest time.

“There is no society that does not have AMCON in one form or the other. The only way we can resolve financial stability is through the creation of an entity like this and we need to ensure its success,” Abiru added.