AMCON Seizes More Assets over Bad Debt

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, has confiscated more assets from debtors reluctant to repay loans.

After futile effort to get debtors on the negotiating table, the corporation recently commenced enforcement actions against some of them.

Among the recent seizures, Daily Trust gathered was the assets of a Kogi-born billionaire and Chairman of A Group Properties, Abubakar Aliyu, who lost the asset of his company, including four of his properties in Abuja to the corporation.

AMCON also took on  Gbenga James and his Avian Specialities Limited. Mr James and his wife were picked up from their Ibadan residence by men of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) due to what it said was his disregard of AMCON’s demand notices for the non-performing loan of his company, a source close to the operations told Daily Trust.

The source, who craved anonymity said the corporation had now swung into a full loan recovery mode and more bad debtors would lose their properties soon

At the recent hearing at the House of Representatives, the total liability of the corporation were put at N6.6 trillion. The liabilities rose after AMCON bought banks’ bad loans worth N3.3tn and paid N1.7tn for them.

After several appeals to the bad debtors by the new Managing Director of the corporation, Ahmed Kuru, some of the debtors, especially the “big boys with big jets” have chosen their typical path of disregard to their obligations, thinking it is business as usual, the source said.

Findings also revealed that several other companies, most of which belong to notable personalities, have been taken over by AMCON.