Ahmed Kuru, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), has regretted his agency’s inability to recover about N5trillion owed by bank debtors nationwide.
He noted that despite the overwhelming powers granted AMCON by the law setting it up, it is yet to record major success in the recovery of these debts because of the slow pace of court proceedings.
He said over 3,000 cases involving it and bank loan defaulters were currently stuck in various courts in the country.
Kuru spoke in Abuja yesterday at an event tagged: “AMCON interaction with Justices of the Court of Appeal,” under the theme: “AMCON Regime: A paradigm shift in debt recovery.”
He said: “Currently, there is still over N5trillion debt unrecovered. Over 3,000 cases relating to this debt are still undecided in the various courts.
“About 350 of our obligors (debtors) owe 80 per cent of the debt. 90 per cent of the debt is held up in cases currently pending in the various courts,” he said.
He noted that, not only has the slow court process worked to AMCON’s disadvantage, lawyers to the defaulting debtors have also exploited legal technicalities to frustrate AMCON’s debt recovery efforts.
Kuru, who prayed Justices of the Court of Appeal to come to his agency’s aid, canvassed for a special task force of the court to speedily consider and determine cases involving AMCON.
President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa noted that AMCON’s mandate was herculean and critical to the continued survival of the nation’s economy.
Justice Bulkachuwa, who said her court will, within the limit of the law, support AMCON’s activities, noted that since debtors were reluctant to report their debt, AMCON must learn to be creative in its approach.
She said: “To recover as much debts as possible within its defined lifespan, expediency is essential if AMCON is to achieve its value maximisation and financial stability goals.
“Certainly, our court will be in a vantage position once the necessity surrounding the creation of AMCON, its revolutionary and unprecedented powers are appreciated by us,” she said.
Justice Bulkachuwa advised AMCON and its lawyers to learn to imbibe the spirit of “ingenuity, pro-activity, courage and dynamism” for them to accomplish the agency’s mandate.
She said: “I must hasten to caution that our courts are certainly helpless when confronted with the incompetent and discouraging performance of some of your lawyers.
“In fact, in some cases, it is sad that an otherwise good case may be jeopardised by incompetent handling from even the court of first instance,” she said.
Former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta said the must has the patriotic responsibility to preserve the nation’s economy by ensuring speedy determination of cases involving AMCON.
Justice Mohammed Idris, who gave a detailed review of AMCON’s establishment Act, said the law gave overwhelming and unusual powers to the agency because of the circumstance that informed its creation.