…Stakeholders urged to support debt recovery efforts
By Omodele Adigun
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), yesterday, said it has so far recovered about N681.5 billion from debtors over the last six years. This was as the judiciary and stakeholders in the financial services sector have been urged to support its debt recovery efforts.
The Corporation, in a statement on Monday, said the amount recovered included cash, properties and shares, in addition to over N1.7 trillion worth of assets under litigations.
Calling on stakeholders to support the bad debt manager, the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Justice Roseline Bozimo, hinged her reason on the huge positive impact of AMCON to the Nigerian economy and its ability to correct past economic flaws that led to its establishment.
Justice Bozimo, who spoke Monday, at an interactive conference of Federal High Court Judges held in Abuja, said the call became necessary because of the critical but difficult assignment of AMCON to recover huge debts as mandated by its establishment Act. The theme of the conference is, “The AMCON Regime: A Paradigm Shift in Debt Recovery.”
She disclosed that it was due to the importance which Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, attached to AMCON, as an integral component of the financial safety net system, that made him approve the interaction.
Justice Bozimo said acknowledging Nigeria’s critical economic status; acquiring the intellectual competence of promoting the financial system stability and ring fencing the integrity of the macro-economy from fragmentation, should be encouraged and supported especially by Justices and Justices of the Appellate Courts.
She said: “My Lords, the relevant mechanisms and approaches inherent in complementing AMCON judicial and judiciously to accomplish its primary mandate in the area of liquidity support, assumption of troubled loans and compliments to businesses, should be encouraged and supported by all stakeholders. Hence, the roles of judicial officers in aiding AMCON to achieve its statutory objective are very key.”