The Senate has expressed concern about the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria’s (AMCON) N145 billion naira loan and the agency’s massive liabilities.
The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions expressed its displeasure on Wednesday when it met with AMCON Managing Director Ahmed Kuru, who led top agency officials to the Senate to present his 2023 financial records and defend the 2024 budget estimates.
They bemoaned the agency’s loss of 145 billion naira in 12 months, a development that committee members unanimously regarded as very worrying.
A member of the committee, Senator Sani Musa, stated that AMCON is saddled with the statutory responsibility amongst others, of recovering the non-performing loans, disbursed by banks to their customers was not aggressive enough in its loan recovery drives.
According to him, it is not enough to defend the budget but it is also important to see the effect of Appropriation, as he wondered about the possibility of scrapping AMCON.
By the same token, another member of the panel, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, lamented the huge losses suffered by the asset recovery agency in the outgoing fiscal year, described as concerning the agency’s total profit and loss of N145 billion.
The panel subsequently dissolved into a closed session after attempts by the Chairman to quell dissenting voices.
The committee agreed on the need for a strong financial system, declaring AMCON as viable.