Why I initiated AMCON Act amendment – Uba Sani

Sen. Ubs Sani, Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, says he initiated the amendment to the AMCON Act to recover over N4.7 trillion owed government by a few individuals.

Sani who is also the Kaduna State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), made this known when he addressed the Political Committee of the state chapter of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), in Kaduna on Friday.

He added that the amendment of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Law, was to institute justice and equity as well as ensure transparency.

“In 2009, when banks were going down because of the global economic recession, Nigerian government brought out N4.7 trillion to buy bad loans from the banks.

“What it means is that individuals borrowed money from the banks to the tune of N4.7 trillion, the banks were going down and this will affect the entire economy.”

He recalled that AMCON was created to take over those loans and paid money to the banks in order to keep them afloat.

Sani said that AMCON was also mandated to recover the money, which it has been unable to do comprehensively.

“When I came into the Senate in 2019, I looked at the list and realized that 350,000 Nigerians were responsible for the N3 trillion debt.

“And who are these Nigerians? Most of them have houses in America, in the United Kingdom and Dubai, some of them even had private jets.”

He added that about 2,000 other Nigerians were responsible for the remaining N1.7 trillion debt.

The committee chairman said he found the situation unacceptable, as the debtors kept frustrating AMCON’S efforts through various means, including endless litigation.

He alleged that most of the collaterals the big time debtors pledged before taking the huge loans were properties or assets that were less in value to the loans that they collected.

“The total loans against their names, like I said earlier, was N4.7 trillion but the value of their assets was just N700 billion.

“This means that there was insider trading, and most of these collaterals are assets located in their villages and towns,’’ he added.

Sani explained that the amended AMCON Act, now has a clause that allows for asset tracing and seizure in any part of the country, irrespective of the one that the debtors pledged.

“Mr President has assented to the amendment on 31st November 2021, today, I was told that because of that amendment, AMCON has recovered N1.5 trillion,” he said.

Sani told the labour leaders that he has so far sponsored 31 bills, out of which seven were awaiting presidential assent while some had been signed into law.

Sani who represents Kaduna Central in the Senate, said that all the 31 bills, including the ones assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, were centred on people’s welfare.

He said that one of the bills that sought to amend the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) was to deepen financial inclusion for the downtrodden.

The APC governorship candidate noted that 70% of adults in Northern Nigeria are unbanked, which partly explained the high level of poverty in the region.

“I included a clause in the BOFIA bill, mandating anyone that is 18 years and above should be financially inclusive,” he added.

The governorship candidate urged the NLC to support him, pledging to deliver on his promises as he is doing as Senator.

According to him, he has the highest bills in the Senate and will ensure that at least four of the bills passed were signed into law before the end of the present administration.

Sani urged the NLC political committee to interrogate other governorship candidates on their performances as former legislators and other public services.