The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reiterated the need for a working relationship among government agencies as a tool to help the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) recovered the N5 trillion debts being owed by some Nigerians.
The Commission advised the agency to work with the Nigerian Police and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to be able to recover the debts. The Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu, said this while receiving a delegation from AMCON, led by its Chairman, Muiz Banire, SAN, and its Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru, who came on a familiarization visit to the EFCC Headquarters, Jabi, Abuja.
He said, “We are ready to work with you, we will render assistance in terms of enforcement, in order to recover these loans, because they are affecting the economy of the country from flourishing.
“In order to recover these loans, there is need for inter-agency collaboration, going beyond the EFCC to the police, the court, Central Bank of Nigeria, NDIC, because there is need for AMCON to re-strategize and block loopholes.” Earlier, Banire, revealed that the total loan stood in excess of N5trillion, noting that “this is the money that belongs to all Nigerians, if N5trillion can be injected into our economy in Nigeria, particularly infrastructure, hospitals will change, education will change, the road we use will change and definitely everything will change positively”.
The Chairman used the opportunity to highlight the efforts of AMCON in debt recovery to “absorb most of the loans during the time that the banks were collapsing, in order to strengthen the banks”. According to him, the loans were about N3.7 trillion, adding that during that time, the debtors were in excess of 12,000 people and through the efforts of AMCON, the figure was reduced to around 7,000.
He however, noted with dismay that though the number reduced overtime, “there are a few owing with impunity and taking just about 20 of them, we will be talking about people owing close to N2trillion”.
