Reps wade into banks’ N2.473trn debt to AMCON

The House of Representatives, yesterday, moved to save the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) from collapse over funds owed them by a firm, Obligo.

Obligo is an international management company with an established institutional investor platform and focus on investing in and managing real estate in the Nordic region.

Debating a motion by Johnbull Shekarau (PDP, Plateau) on the need for AMCON to recover its debts and live up to its responsibilities, the lawmakers accused banks of owing the company N2.473 trillion, an amount they said was hampering the asset manager from carrying out its palliative and redemptive functions.

The House mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to look into the issues and report back to it within four weeks.

According to Shekarau, the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had provided initial capital and a three-year zero coupon guaranteed bond, to allow AMCON raise N5.67trn for the intervention, but six years after, the company was yet to recover its debts from the banks, to enable it redeem the bond it acquired.

But AMCON, two years ago, said it had completed the scheduled redemption of its Series V zero-coupon bonds, meaning it had fully exited the public debt market after redeeming N1.87trn worth of bonds issued since inception.