Group photographs of all participants at the end of the interactive session between AMCON and other government agencies and stakeholders in Abuja at the weekend

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court Awka Division at the weekend rose in strong defense of the Federal Government of Nigeria led by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly for setting up the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and granting the agency some special powers to enable it to recover its troublesome bad debts.

As a ‘bad bank,’ AMCON has current huge outstanding debt of over ₦4.4trillion owed it by a few individuals that destroyed a good number of financial institutions through huge borrowings with no intention to pay back the loans. Consequently, the bad loans were sold to AMCON when it was created in 2010. AMCON upon taking over the bad debts, AMCON recapitalised a good number of the affected the financial institutions and stabilised the financial sector. Having completed that AMCON then has the mandate to go after the obligors to recover the debt.

Aside from the banks that were destroyed by these obligors, other sectors of the Nigerian economy such as the oil and gas establishments, manufacturing firms, airlines, real estateand construction companies, maritime firms and power generating organisations, insurance companies just to mention a few were all affected. But as AMCON intensifies efforts to recover the huge outstanding debts, these obligors have perfected the act of hiding under all sorts of technical lacunas in the AMCON Act to frustrate recovery.

On the other hand, the Federal Government through the National Assembly is also thinking ahead and so have gone ahead with some amendments in the Act establishing AMCON, which gives AMCON some additional powers that would hasten their recovery mandate.

Only recently, President Buhari again signed into law the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, amending the AMCON Act No.4, 2010. The AMCON Act among other adjustments provides for the extension of the tenor of the Resolution Cost Fund (RCF) and grants access to the Special Tribunal established by the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act 2020, which confers on AMCON the power to among others… “to take possession, manage, foreclose or sell, transfer, assign or otherwise deal with the asset or property used as security for Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs), and related matters.’’

This latest development has also attracted criticism especially from the quarters of the obligors and those sympathetic to them. Justice Dimgba who was speaking to participants at an interactive organized by Legal Academy for Land Registry Officials, Corporate Affairs Commission personnel, AMCON and other stakeholders of the Federal Government while reacting to the enormous powers of AMCON on Saturday in Abuja took sides with President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly, the federal Ministry of Finance, AMCON and the Central Bank. He said they need to do whatever it takes within the ambit of the law to ensure that these individuals who are holding the collective commonwealth of Nigeria are made to return them to the government through AMCON.

According to him, supporting AMCON, which is what those that created the agency is doing and had done with the latest amendment of the AMCON Act is the only way to compel repayment. This move the legal luminary argued is because AMCON is a ‘Special Animal’ created by the Federal Government of Nigeria to deal with special problem in the country, which started with the global financial meltdown that affected many economies the world over including Nigeria.

Earlier in his submission, Mr Aminu Ismail, AMCON Executive Director of Operations who represented Mr Ahmed Kuru AMCON MD/CEO at the interactive session reminded participants that the AMCON mandate remains a national assignment, which requires the collaboration of all agencies of the government.

He said this high-level collaboration is needed because AMCON’s total current exposure on all Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) presently stands at ₦4.4 trillion. Of this huge number, only 350 outstanding obligors account for 83% of the total EBA balance just as 244 of the top 350 obligors are in various courts. However, the collateral coverage is only 16% of the total current exposure.

Left: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Lagos State, Hakeem Adeniji; Commissioner for Agriculture, Lagos State, Abisola Olusanya; President, Lagos State Fishermen Cooperative Society, Mr Adekunle Fasasi; Head, Public Sector and Agric Business, Commercial Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Mojisola Oguntoyinbo and Area Manager, Lagos Mainland, Margaret Fawibe at the presentations of fibre glass boats with outboard engines and other ancillary fishing equipment to fish farmers in Lagos.

Ecobank Nigeria has received commendation from the Lagos State Government on its partnership to uplift artisanal fisheries value chain in the State.
Ms Abisola Olusanya, the Commissioner for Agriculture in her remark at the presentation of 34 fibre glass boats with outboard engines and other ancillary fishing equipment to cooperative societies of 680 youth fishermen, said partnership with Ecobank has been phenomenal in helping to develop business models suitable for the fishermen, stating that the ministry was partnering with Ecobank and Old Mutual Assurance, to provide banking services, track cash flow in the business and aid fleet expansion for the fishermen.
Olusanya disclosed that the empowerment was under the 2021 Agricultural Value Chains Enterprise Activation Programme, inaugurated by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu in July as part of the government’s commitment to supporting the fishery value chain.
She said that it was envisaged that the deployment of the fishing assets would create over 2,000 jobs in the upstream and downstream sub-sectors of the artisanal fisheries value chain, as well as to produce 4,531 metric tonnes of fish annually. Olusanya said that each cooperative group comprising 20 members each would receive a boat.
The commissioner further explained that the partnership with Ecobank was aimed at monitoring the activities of each cooperative group to ensure that they make judicious use of the equipment.
“Today, we are distributing the fibre glass boat to 34 cooperative groups free of charge, under the 2021 Agricultural Value Chains Enterprise Activation Programme.
“We need to monitor your activities to ensure that you utilise the equipment very well and also expand and increase the number of your fleet with the support of the financial institution. The banks are here to plan your business and increase opportunities for the generations to come. We want you all to grow your business and become multinational companies. We don’t want people to come from Japan, Netherlands and other foreign countries to talk about fish more than our people from the local fishing communities,” she said.
The Head, Agriculture Desk, Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs Moji Oguntoyinbo, said that the bank was delighted to partner with the state government on the fisheries value chain.
Oguntoyinbo said that it was an intentional action for the bank to partner with Lagos state, due to its coastal region with a lot of opportunities in fisheries.
“We have seen Lagos state as a coastal region with a lot of opportunities in fisheries and we are delighted that the government has picked us as a focus in food sustainability to start development in this sector. Today, we are very delighted to be a partner on this laudable project. This is an intentional investment and incentive to fishermen in Lagos, to promote this sector to the extent of making it possible for fish production and exportation, in the very near future, from the State.”
“This is very laudable for us and we are delighted that this will be a role model plan and action that we will also try to replicate in other coastal regions of Nigeria.
“Lagos is always taking the lead and we are delighted to partner with you on this project,” she said. She urged the beneficiaries to be consistently focused to ensure that the project would continue to revolve and would be extended to many more beneficiaries in the nearest future.
Also, Mr Adekunle Fasasi, President, Lagos State Fishermen Cooperative Society commended the government for its continuous support and empowerment to the value chain. He noted that in the whole of Nigeria, Lagos state was first in terms of fish production and promised to increase its number with the new empowerment.
“Lagos is a coastal region; we have oceans and seas and it is important that we take advantage of this for economic benefits. I am particularly happy that this initiative is focused on the youths, because these are the people that will take over from us aged fishermen. I, hereby, implore the farmers to use the property as if they paid for it and prayed that God would continue to give them wisdom and strength needed to be better fishermen. Do not take it with levity because it is a gift,” he advised.”