Nigerian debtors with non-performing loans hanging on their necks are set to encounter public disgrace as the one-month grace period they had has ended.
This was confirmed by the spokesman of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Jude Nwauzor, when he revealed that 7,912 debtors currently owe above N4.4 trillion.
According to Nwauzor, debtors’ names that will be published in the national newspaper are those that were yet to come up with a repayment plan with the 30-day grace period given by the National Assembly.
He said: “AMCON has taken the decision to publish already. The decision has been taken already. It is a directive from the National Assembly. As a responsible corporate citizen, this was why we published an advertorial to warn all the entities concerned that their names will be published at the expiration of the ultimatum. The one month grace period will be expiring on January 5, 2021.
“If you recall that before we went for the Christmas holiday, the National Assembly asked us to publish a list of debtors.
“However, the management of AMCON felt that to avoid a situation whereby people would say we took them by surprise, there was a need to do an advertorial.
“That was why we put adverts to warn that after the expiration of the deadline, the names would be published. We bought 12,743 loans, but as of now, about 4,831 have been resolved. The outstanding is now 7,912. These outstanding debtors are owing us N4.4tn.”
It should be recalled that the Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Uba Sani, directed AMCON to publish the names of all debtors, including popular Nigerians as the government intensified efforts to drive debt recovery last month.
Consequently, AMCON gave the debtors between December 6, 2021, and January 5, 2021, to come up with repayment proposals or face the embarrassment of having their names published as directed by the National Assembly.
He said: “We will have no choice but to carry out the directive of the National Assembly (and) will not be blamed having taken the pain to warn the debtors ahead of the planned publication.”
