The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria AMCON has charged its Asset Management Partners AMP to deploy processes of receivership and winding-up as provided for AMCON Act 2019 (as amended) in the recovery of over N5trillion still outstanding in its books.

Managing Director/CEO of the corporation Ahmed Kuru, who spoke at a one-day seminar for AMCON’s AMPs facilitated by Dr. Fatihu Abba Legal Academy in Abuja, noted that these processes and procedures, if properly applied, would play crucial roles in the recovery of the outstanding debts.

The MD was represented at the seminar by AMCON’s Group Head of Enforcement, Joshua Ikioda According to him, with the enactment of the Act last year, the corporation has witnessed some remarkable improvements in its recovery efforts, which also provides a veritable tool that AMPs should optimally explore.

He therefore called on the AMPs to leverage those provisions among other potent aspects of the Act to rave up recoveries, adding that even as its sunset draws near with each passing year; AMCON is still heavily burdened by over N5trillion, which is outstanding in its books.

Kuru also believes that  more funds would be recovered when the corporation’s partners in the recovery drive tighten the noose on obligors using the ‘weapon’ of the amended AMCON Act 2019 to stop a few recklessness individuals who have continued to take advantage of the loopholes in our laws to escape their moral and legal obligations to repay their debts.

“The AMP schemes are a major tool in the recovery efforts of the corporation and key to its success. All our partners urgently need to intensify efforts using the added powers in the amended AMCON Act 2019. But as professionals, the AMPs must also ensure that they should strictly comply with the existing laws and all their actions must be within the confines of the law.

“We have repeatedly made the point at every opportunity that all stakeholders must view the AMCON mandate as one of serious national importance. If at sunset AMCON is unable to recover the huge debt of over N5trillion, it becomes the debt of the Federal Government of Nigeria for which taxpayers’ monies will be used to settle. The implication is that the general public will be made to pay for the recklessness of only a few individuals who continue to take advantage of the loopholes in our legal system to escape their moral and legal obligations to repay their debts.

“We should not allow a few individuals to escape with our commonwealth. And we want to do it within the confines of the law. Our various interactions with stakeholders and particularly feedbacks we receive from the Judges necessitate continuous training and retraining for our AMPs especially as it relates to challenges encountered during filling processes in court and enforcing AMCON’s rights on obligors’ assets. Also, considering the corporation’s new enforcement strategy and our newly amended AMCON Act 2019, the role of AMPs become even more vital and cannot be over-emphasised. We reiterate the fact that our AMPs are very key to the success of AMCON”, Kuru also said.

While speaking on the need for information sharing, he urged the AMPs to share some of their experiences with one another so that both the corporation and the AMPs can all succeed in the ‘national assignment.