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Business News of Tuesday, 20 July 2021

Source: thenationonlineng.net

AMCON recovers N1.48tr from debtors

The fund was recovered out of the N4.158 trillion owed to the corporation The fund was recovered out of the N4.158 trillion owed to the corporation

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has recovered N1.48 trillion from debtors, its Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru announced Monday.

The AMCON boss said the fund was recovered out of the N4.158 trillion owed to the corporation.

Kuru, who spoke in Kaduna at the 2021 retreat of the Senate Committee on Banking Insurance and other Financial Institutions with the management of AMCON, added that AMCON still has 7,902 outstanding obligors with a total outstanding loan of above N3.1 trillion.

According to him, 350 obligors alone account for over N2.053 trillion, which is more than 70 per cent of the total outstanding amount.

He said: “All our action is geared towards settling our obligation with the CBN. After recovery and disposal, funds are paid directly into our CBN account. Recovery and disposal of assets have so far contributed above N1.270 trillion towards settling our obligation.

“The economy and the banking industry are not growing at the expected rate thereby creating a huge gap in our recovery activities. At the recovery rate we are currently experiencing, we may not be able to cycle out even in the next five years. Additionally, the interest rate AMCON is shouldering on its bond to the CBN is making it difficult for the recovery rate to grow.”

Kuru said there was no easy way to recover money.

“It is always difficult for both sides. One doing a hard job and the other responding to a hard situation. Let us not forget that these loans have remained uncollected for a minimum of 10-15 years! Just imagine your neighbour coming for the repayment of a loan given to him before your 10-year-old son was born.

“It is not easy! However, we have a responsibility to collect and shall continue to pursue them within the purviews of the law. You should not, therefore, be surprised when people/ obligor continues to report us to you or react based on one-sided view in the social media. It is difficult for us, but it is a trust, which we intend to keep. The easy way for us is to be routine debt collectors, which I can assure you will not yield any result and we would continue to have the debt burden increasing due to compounding interest,” Kuru said.