AMCON gives a final notice to chronic debtors that their names would be splashed in the media unless they pay their debts by January 5
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has alerted the 350 people owing Nigeria N4.4 trillion that it has concluded arrangements to publish their names in national newspapers unless they come up with plans to repay their debts.
A statement by AMCON Head of Corporate Communications, Jude Nwauzor, which TheNiche got said the debtors have until January 5 to settle their debts or risk embarrassment.
Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Uba Sani (Kaduna Central), had last week directed the corporation to publish again, the names of all debtors including prominent Nigerians who are frustrating the effort of AMCON at fulfilling its debt recovery mandate.
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AMCON said as a responsible corporate citizen, they decided to give the debtors 30 days beginning from December 6, 2021, to January 5, 2021, to come forward with a repayment proposal or risk the embarrassment of having their names in the media as recalcitrant debtors.
AMCON is saddled with the statutory responsibility of recovering all troubled debts owed the Corporation through the purchase of Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) from Eligible Financial Institutions (EFIs) during the different phases of EBA purchases when the Federal Government established AMCON in 2010.
Nwauzor said AMCON Act Section 50B (1) as amended states, “Notwithstanding any rule or contractual obligation as to confidentiality, the Corporation may publish, in the national daily newspapers, a list of debtors that have failed to meet their debt or other repayment obligation to the Corporation in connection with any Eligible Bank Asset acquired by the Corporation…”
AMCON CEO, Ahmed Kuru, recently told both the Federal House of Representatives and the Senate that the non-performing loan portfolio of the corporationion is currently N4.4 trillion, with about 83 per cent of the debt owed by just 350 debtors.
Nwauzor said AMCON will not be blamed having taken the pain to warn the debtors ahead of the planned publication.
