Wednesday, January 05, 2022 / 08:42AM / by Oyetunji Abioye, Nike Popoola, and Stephen Angbulu of PunchNewspaper/ Header Image Credit:  Pulse

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria is setto publish the names of 7,912 debtors owing it a total of N4.4tn, it has beenlearnt.

The move follows the expiration of the 30-dayultimatum given by the National Assembly to debtors to regularise their debtstatus with the bad debt manager.

The one month notice elapses on Wednesday (today),January 5, 2021.

The corporation confirmed to The PUNCH on Tuesday thatthe agency had no choice but to obey the directive of the National Assemblyasking it to publish the names of debtors who have refused to repay theirloans.

The spokesperson for AMCON, Mr. Jude Nwauzor, saiddebtors who were yet to provide a repayment proposal risked having theirdetails published in the media after the 30-day grace period given by theNational Assembly.

He said, "AMCON has taken the decision to publishalready. The decision has been taken already. It is a directive from theNational Assembly. As a responsible corporate citizen, this was why wepublished an advertorial to warn all the entities concerned that their nameswill be published at the expiration of the ultimatum. The one month graceperiod will be expiring on January 5, 2021".

According to corporation, out of a total of 12, 743non-performing loans inherited by the agency, 4, 831 debtors have settled theirindebtednesses, leaving a total of 7,912 outstanding debtors

AMCON confirmed that the agency would be publishingthe names of 7,912 debtors owing the agency N4.4tn at the expiration of thedeadline.

Emphasising why the agency would go ahead topublish the names of the debtors, Nwauzor said, "If you recall that before wewent for the Christmas holiday, the National Assembly asked us to publish alist of debtors. However, the management of AMCON felt that to avoid asituation whereby people would say we took them by surprise,  there was aneed to do an advertorial. That was why we put adverts to warn that after theexpiration of the deadline, the names would be published. We bought 12,743loans, but as of now, about 4,831 have been resolved. The outstanding isnow7,912.  These outstanding debtors are owing us N4.4tn".

AMCON, it was learnt, had finalised arrangements topublish the complete list of individuals, and institutions on itsnon-performing loans portfolio in the national dailies.

The Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Insuranceand other Financial Institutions, Uba Sani, had, in early December, directedthe corporation to publish the names of all debtors, including popularNigerians as the government stepped efforts to drive debt recovery.

The agency consequently gave the debtors betweenDecember 6, 2021, and January 5, 2021, to provide payment formidable repaymentproposal or risk the embarrassment of having their names published as directedby the National Assembly.

In a document submitted to the House ofRepresentatives and the Senate last December, AMCON's Chief Executive Officer,Ahmed Kuru, revealed that about 83 percent of the total NPL portfolio ofN4.4tn was being owned by 350 debtors.

The corporation's spokesperson had warned that theagency "will have no choice but to carry out the directive of the NationalAssembly (and) will not be blamed having taken the pain to warn the debtorsahead of the planned publication".

Speaking on Tuesday, Nwauzor said, "Before we wenton vacation, a good number of debtors who will not want their name publishedhave been discussing with the relevant departments within AMCON.

"What will happen now is a compilation of those whohave not come forward. After that, we will get management's approval topublish. It will be published!

"You know, left to the National Assembly, theywanted the names published immediately after we engaged with them last month.But as a responsible organisation, AMCON felt that it is proper to give peoplea final warning so that nobody will say they were taken unawares.

"So what we did was to play the role of aresponsible organisation. Even though the National Assembly has approved thatwe go ahead and publish the names, let us also warn people about what willhappen.

"After our announcement warning the public that wewill publish the list of debtors, a good number of debtors have been coming todiscuss with our enforcement department. They are the ones who will publish thelist".

Credit:

The post; AMCONLists 7,912 Names Owing N4.4tn as Deadline Expires first appeared in Punchng.com on January 05, 2022.  

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