Senior management of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) have appealed to the National Assembly to grant it more powers which would enhance its productivity. Managing Director of the bad bank, Ahmed Kuru made the request during a retreat held by the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions in Abuja. In response, the committee chairman Rafiu Ibrahim signalled the Senate’s willingness to spport the corporation’s quest to achieve its goals
Why AMCON’s management wants its laws modified
Ahmed Kuru, during the retreat solicited for the amendments due to the lengthy time the corporation had spent in court pursuing debtors.
“There is need for a change of strategy. This job is not an easy assignment by any definition because every obligor has a perception of AMCON and are willing to tie us up in court. That is why you see that every week we have fresh enemies. Therefore we need very strong legislative framework, which would for instance make it possible for all AMCON cases to terminate at the Appeal Court.”
AMCON was established by an Act of the National Assembly in July 2010 and has a lifespan of 10 years. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had moved for the establishment of the bad bank following a banking crisis which saw the apex bank injecting N620 billion into 9 banks, and banks in the country having bad loans running into trillions of Naira. AMCON subsequently bought off the bad loans, and has gone after the debtors.
