The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) says it would soon try out the option of ‘name and shame’, especially for the Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in its quest to recover debts owed the country.

 The move, which may jolt the political environment ahead of the 2019 elections when executed, is gathering momentum as it has become necessary with the great resistance of the debtors who are adjudged capable but unwilling to pay.
 
AMCON’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ahmed Kuru made the disclosure while presenting the corporation’s 2017 audited accounts, adding the measure was part of its new drive in dealing decisively with the top debtors

Kuru disclosed that 350 debtors of AMCON accounted for almost 80 per cent of the over ₦5 trillion huge debt burden,stressing that the monies must be recovered because AMCON borrowed to purchase the Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) during the first and second phases of the takeover of the bad loans from the banks.
 
While noting that AMCON had about five more years to wind down operations, Kuru warned that PEPs and business heavyweights who think they were untouchable would not be spared in the enforcement process that are being fine-tuned by the agency.

He said that the corporation was currently restructuring its operational processes to enable it go after the unrepentant debtors in a manner that has never been witnessed before in the country.
 
Explaining the challenges of the agency’s task, he added: “I think people need to pity us because we are at that stage in the life of the Corporation where we are dealing with the hardcore because the low hanging fruits have been dealt with earlier in the life of AMCON.

“I want you to understand that we are sitting on a substantial amount of assets, which we must one way or the other resolve on or before our sunset, which is around 2023/24.”
 
“As we close in on these individuals and entities that owe us, I want you to know that they will call us names, blackmail us, threaten us, malign and harass us. However, I can tell you that as hard as they will try, we will not be deterred in going about our normal duties as mandated by law.”
 
Kurufurther emphasized that it was important for the media to have a full understanding of the magnitude of the challenges faced by AMCON and help the agency in its bid to recover public funds held up by individuals who heavily borrowed money from banks with no intention to repay, which he said contributed in destroying the nation’s  economy.