Omodele Adigun
The Chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency of the House of Representatives, Sir Jones Onyereri, has announced that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Amendment Bill would be presented before the House within the next two weeks. The bill is seeking to further empower AMCON to go after its chronic obligors.
A statement from AMCON explained that Onyereri stated this when he led other members of the committee on a routine oversight function at the Corporation’s Abuja Head Office.
He noted that the Committee owe it a duty to Nigerians as mandated by the constitution to visit some of the critical institutions such as AMCON to review their budget performance within the financial year.
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After a grilling session following AMCON 2018 budget performance presentation by its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ahmed Kuru, the lawmaker reaffirmed the lower chamber’s commitment to support AMCON recover the huge outstanding debt in the hands of a few recalcitrant obligors.
Providing an insight into how the House would aide recovery in the next financial year, he said:
“As I speak to you now, I want to assure you that this committee would, in the next one or two weeks, submit the AMCON Amendment Bill to the House of Representatives for the third reading after which it would be moved to the Senate for final deliberation. The committee has worked tirelessly to ensure that when the Bill is passed, AMCON will be further empowered to deliver on its mandate.
“AMCON remains an interventionist institution of the Federal Government, which falls under the purview of the House Committee’s oversight function. If AMCON is to deliver on their mandate by recovering the over N5.4trillion outstanding debt, the Corporation will therefore need the support of all other government agencies to succeed.
“We have thoroughly reviewed the 2018 budget performance of the corporation vis-à-vis what was approved for them. The committee is satisfied with the performance, which would also help the committee make projections and also provide guidance as the case may be against their 2019 budget.”
Kuru, in his remark at the session with the lawmakers, described the oversight visit by the committee as a good feedback mechanism, which has over the years afforded AMCON the opportunity to rub minds with the legislature as well as draw from the wisdom of the lawmakers to efficiently and effectively pilot the affairs of AMCON.
He, however, assured the lawmakers that the current management of AMCON under his leadership will continually remain prudent just as it would continue to persevere in the face of adversity posed by the difficult socio-political and economic realities in the country.