The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has disclosed that the outstanding debt of N4.4 trillion is more than the entire 2021 capital expenditure budget of Nigeria, which stands at N3.85trillion.

This debt includes loans taken by corporations and individuals from banks that have been taken up by the Agency.

The debt profile recorded by the corporation is larger than the N3.12trillion pegged for total debt service for 2021 and personnel cost of N3.7 trillion in the 2021 budget.

AMCON Group Head of Enforcement, Joshua Ikioda stated this at a presentation in Abuja, titled: “Overview of AMCON from Cradle to Date and the Implication of the Bad Debt to the Nigerian Economy.”

Mr. Ikioda said 350 individuals alone account for N3.6 trillion, representing 80 percent of the N4.4 trillion of the total outstanding debt.

Attempts to recover the debts have proven difficult, according to AMCON MD/CEO, Ahmed Kuru, as debtors rely on legal technicalities in a bid to delay the agency.

Mr. Kuru explained at a Ministry of Finance briefing last year, that if the AMCON failed to recover its outstanding debts, the burden would go to the federal government, who will in turn use taxpayers’ monies to settle them.

The AMCON was created in 2010 to recover the non performing loans from debtors, and return the funds to government coffers to support the economy. In its nine years of operation, the agency has been able to recover only N1 trillion from the outstanding debt.