FG’ll not write off your debts, AMCON warns debtors

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) yesterday, urged its debtors to discuss their repayment plans, warning that government would not write off the debts.

Its Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru, who issued the warning in Lagos, said he had observed that some debtors had been rejoicing over the news of the winding up of AMCON.

Kuru said AMCON had more than 3,000 cases in different courts because some obligors had refused to discuss with AMCON on viable repayment plans believing that they can stall the pressure to pay by instituting court cases that delay recoveries.

He stressed that no government would allow any debtor to walk away, despite the process of winding up the corporation.

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Kuru said regardless of the campaign of calumny against AMCON and its recovery activities, the Corporation remained a resolution agency that had supported businesses and would continue to support businesses because it is in the overall interest of the Nigerian economy.

He said without the intervention of AMCON, Arik Air would have collapsed as the airline delayed flights for two to three days in a row while its aircraft were being arrested abroad, which was a big embarrassment to the country.

He said when the government mandated AMCON to take over Arik Air under a receivership arrangement, the airline was not paying staff salary, insurance, and could not afford to buy aviation fuel to keep its planes flying, and nobody, including some key aviation international partners, wanted to do business with it among other issues.

“The challenge of Sir Arumemi Johnson’s Arik Air Limited (in Receivership) under the auspices of the AMCON, may seem difficult, but the situation is not irredeemable. There’s always a way out of every situation; however, there must be a situation of give and take, which is what we (AMCON) have been trying to achieve.

 “We’re ready to sit down with the owner or owners of Arik if they’re ready to agree on what makes sense to us, to them, and the federal government.

“When we engage and arrive at that agreement, we’ll as AMCON go back to the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as the Ministry of Finance, and share such a resolution strategy with them. 

“But for any resolution to take place, the two parties or the parties involved must have understanding. We’re convinced that there’s always a way out,” he added.