Indications have emerged that some highly placed individuals, who have enormous debts with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, have been lobbying top government officials to influence the corporation to restructure their loans.Our correspondent gathered from reliable sources in AMCON that the debtors had approached senior government officials and some members of the National Assembly in a bid to have their loans restructured in a favourable manner.One of the sources, who pleaded not to be mentioned because of the sensitive nature of the matter said, "Some of the debtors, especially the influential ones, have been trying hard to get their loans restructured in a way that will favour them by lobbying top government officials at the Ministry of Finance and National Assembly."The way they (debtors) want their loans to be restructured is not appropriate. AMCON will only manage non-performing loans and other acquired assets in a manner that is consistent with minimum resolution costs."The Managing Director, AMCON, Mr. Mustapha Chike-Obi, had said last week that the corporation had started the work of loan re-performance, restructuring and recovery.He said, "AMCON has restructured and recovered over 10 per cent of the non-performing loans it acquired. In the process, AMCON has tried to balance maximum recovery with minimum disruption of viable businesses, keeping in mind that employment of Nigerians is a key plank in the Presidents transformation agenda."In this regard, AMCON has successfully restructured several non-performing loans and supported genuine businesses in critical sectors, thereby saving the jobs of over 20,000 employees. AMCON will continue to cooperate with honest and viable businesses that approach us in good faith and show firm commitment to repay their debts."Analysts, however, believe that AMCON may encounter difficulties recovering all the loans from all its debtors.The Deputy Manager, Civic Investment Limited, Mr. Thomas Adenuga, said, "Some of us already knew AMCON will have problems recovering its loans from some debtors. We have too many powerful people in Nigeria and they are the ones sabotaging the system from working well. Of course, debtors who have strong connections up there will want their loans cancelled."Speaking in the same vein, the Managing Director, Sotice Investment Company Limited, Mr. Adedayo Toluwase, said, "Although AMCON has strong backing of the law, recovering all the debts will be a serious task, some of the debtors have taken the loans as a national cake. And for the fact that AMCON is a government agency, they will do all they can not to repay the loans or to get a good deal from AMCON."Chike-Obi, however, told newsmen in Lagos last week that the corporation would get all its money back from the debtors.He pointed out that AMCON had legal backing to go after any debtor in order to recover its money.He said, "We will use every power to get our money back from the debtors. We have significant powers to recover our money. We will have to liquidate and even go after their properties abroad if they refuse to pay. Also, anybody owing AMCON is completely shut out of the banking sector, none of the banks can lend to that person until they get satisfactory letter from us."AMCON will complete its acquisition of the NPLs by October 31, 2011. At that point, according to the corporation, it would have acquired N2.78tn face value of the NPLs from 21 banks at a cost of N1.16tn. This will represent over 95 per cent of all outstanding NPLs in the banking in
Click here to read full news..
