The Senate on Tuesday, passed the second reading of a bill seeking to amend the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria ( AMCON Act to empower it against economic sabotage by debtors with unpaid loans of about N16, trillion.
Leading the debate, the sponsor of the bill,Opeyemi Bamidele ,( APC Ekiti Central) said the purpose of the amendment was to update few clauses in the act inhibiting operations of AMCON.
Bamidele said the amendment would strengthen AMCON in assets recovery and” re- energize it to tackle the problem of toxic loans”
According to him,” highly placed debtors have been employing different strategies and tactics to stall the repayment of loans, cases drag on in courts for many years
” AMCON has remained at the receiving end of this well laid and orchestrated acts of economic sabotage” he said
In his contribution, Sen.Uba Sani ( APC Kaduna Central) said AMCON largely depends on resources from the resolution fund, and failure to amend the bill would affect the operations of AMCON and may force governmentt to bear the entire cost of debt management of AMCON.
Also contributing to the bill , Sen Adamu Aliero ( APC Kebbi Central) said amendment would empower AMCON to recover all debts that were given to private individuals and companies.
The President of the Senate,Ahmad Lawan, thereafter, referred the bill after it passed second reading to the commitee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions for further legislative work and to revert back to plenary in 4 weeks.
