The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has announced plans to collaborate with international asset tracers to locate and recover the assets of chronic debtors, both locally and overseas.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of AMCON, Gbenga Alade, during an interactive session with media executives on Monday in Lagos.
Alade explained that while AMCON has been successful in tracking assets within Nigeria, the firm is now expanding its efforts to trace hidden assets abroad. He said, “AMCON is empowered to trace personal assets of obligors, and wherever they are in the world, so we can take them, to go to court and sell them. Some of these obligors are very smart. Some of these assets have been transferred so far away that you can’t even touch them. That is what is happening.”
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He emphasized the determination of the new AMCON leadership to ensure that these assets are recovered, stating, “There is a renewed vigour by the new executives of AMCON to use international asset tracers. That is one of the things we are doing because we trace assets locally but now we are taking it globally. Coming into a relationship with a good asset tracer that will help us chase the assets of all these people, anywhere they are in the world and no matter the kind of veil that they have added, they will come out.”
Alade stressed that the recovery of these assets is crucial for the nation, as the funds in question belong to Nigerian taxpayers. “We are determined to make a success of this. Even if AMCON is going to wind down, these people should not go away with Nigeria’s money. This money is not AMCON’s money. This is Nigerians’ money. It is your money, it is my money, it is taxpayers’ money, and we cannot let them just go away with it to continue their lifestyle,” he added.
Regarding the management of assets, Alade noted that AMCON’s focus is on making assets profitable rather than selling them. “AMCON, by its mandate, is an asset management company, not asset sale. We are to manage all these assets to make them efficient, to make them make money, to create revenue, to create a brand, and to create wealth for Nigerians,” he said. He clarified that AMCON only sells assets when debtors are unable to repay their debts and offer their assets as a means of repayment.
In addition to its asset recovery efforts, AMCON has made significant progress in reducing its operating expenses. The organization reported a profit of N108.4 billion at the end of 2023, a notable increase from N34.7 billion in 2022, largely due to a substantial reduction in operating expenses from N138.6 billion to N44.9 billion.
On the issue of Polaris Bank, Alade indicated that the bank’s future would be determined by its ability to meet the new capital requirements set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He stated, “Polaris Bank will be sorted because the new capital requirement will capture all these. If they cannot raise the new capital, I know there will be mergers and acquisitions. The CBN is managing that. What AMCON is managing in Polaris is the bad loans. Any loan that AMCON cannot collect, no bank can collect because AMCON Act empowers it to do so many things that other banks cannot do.”
This development comes as the House of Representatives Committee on Banking & Ancillary Institutions recently urged AMCON to intensify its efforts to recover the N5 trillion debt owed by a few obligors. The committee’s chairman, Nwachukwu Eze, emphasized the importance of recovering these funds to boost the revenue of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government and help fulfill the administration’s promises to Nigerians.
