Sola Ojo, Kaduna

Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Uba Sani, has revealed that the committee has resolved to join hands with Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to push for the recovery of  N5 trillion owed by high-profile Nigerians.

A media release issued at the end of a retreat organised by AMCON on Wednesday and signed by Senator Uba Sani, who represents Kaduna Central in National Assembly expressed, displeasure at the mounting debt profile of AMCON.

The Committee, he said, lamented that “after sinking over N4 trillion into  taking over non-performing loan assets of banks, AMCON today only boasts of N800 billion assets”.

Describing the situation as “clearly unacceptable”, the committee said it has resolved to “confront the AMCON problem squarely, as the institution has become a huge drain on the national economy”.

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The committee also frowned at “a situation where only 350 well-heeled Nigerians account for about 70per cent of the non-performing loans which have remained a source of instability in our financial system”.

The committee however commended  President Muhammadu Buhari for setting up a Task Force for the recovery of over N5 trillion indebtness to AMCON and signing into law the AMCON (Amendment) Act 2019 which gave “sweeping powers to the Corporation to monitor activities of the Nigerian debtors to ensure they do not unduly take advantage of the weakness in the country’s banking systems”.

The Committee then declared its resolve to close ranks with AMCON in the compilation of “a comprehensive list of Nigeria’s high-profile debtors and proceed to publish without delay, their names, “except  the persons in question commence immediate repayment of their loans”.

Senator Uba Sani, in the statement, revealed that part of the steps to be taken by the Committee towards successful recovery of the debt “is to engage with the Executive, Judiciary and  civil society to fashion out workable strategy to fast-track this recovery of Nigeria’s loan assets”.

Other steps the committee intended to take include inviting  the founding fathers of AMCON to rub minds with the committee on the rationale for committing such incredible amount of resources to debts incurred by Nigerians who have shown scant regard for majority of their countrymen and women and are not committed to growth and development of our economy.