Some highly-placed Nigerians are frustrating the recovery of N4.4 trillion by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna), disclosed this on Friday in Niger.
He spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting on “Consolidating the effectiveness of the asset recovery model adopted by AMCON” at Zuma Rock Resort, Niger State.
“From the N4.4 trillion we are trying to recover, about 350 people in this country are responsible. This is about 83 percent of the debt,” he said.
The senator said: “This is very worrisome. This means that powerful Nigerians are the ones not willing to pay these loans. They have been employing different strategies and tactics to stall the repayment of loans running into trillions of naira.
“A lot of highly placed Nigerians are not willing to support AMCON because most of those people are the ones that have taken this money from the banks and of course you know the government came in to set up AMCON to save banks from getting down.
“But unfortunately, from what is happening, AMCON is finding it very difficult because those people are highly placed Nigerians, they try to frustrate AMCON’s effort through the judiciary and that is what we are looking for.”
Sani, however, assured that the Senate would support AMCON to recover the debts.
AMCON’s Managing Director, Ahmed Lawan Kuru, said the recent amendment to the agency’s act would further enhance the corporation’s recovery powers in many aspects.
Kuru said the corporation has so far recovered over N1.4 trillion, which comprised N665 billion cash, property forfeiture N278 billion; disposed assets N141 billion, share forfeiture, N139 billion and other strategic assets, N207 billion.
The Managing Director of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr Bello Hassan, said the government was keen to provide confidence in the financial system.
