₦airaland Forum

Litigations stall efforts to recover debts.

Efforts by the Federal Government at shoring up economic activities through debt recovery from individuals and organisations are not adding up. High-profile debtors are using the courts to mount blocks in the way of government.

The Guardian learnt that at least 10 of such individuals, referred to as the “big boys”, are collectively owing the government about N1 trillion, which is about 17 per cent of the N6 trillion 2016 national budget.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Kuru, told The Guardian that these “big boys with big jets” had perfected the art of going to court to stop the debt-buying agency from taking possession of their assets.

According to him, court processes could take up to 10 years, as debtors are willing to go to any length, including getting to the Supreme Court, in delaying suits filed against them. “Obligors in court just want to buy time to continue to live with their lifestyles, which is more important to them than paying up their debts,” he noted.
Kuru, who declined to disclose the identities of the big boys, because he did not “want to fight them on the pages of the newspapers” since the cases are still ongoing, however, vowed that AMCON would recover every penny owed government.

President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly accused the judiciary of frustrating his fight against corruption, especially in prosecuting high-profile cases. He has continued to challenge judicial officers to remove every obstacle inhibiting the successful prosecution of such cases.

Speaking specifically on some of the factors impeding AMCON’s debt recovery efforts, Kuru said: “We have three major challenges – one, AMCON’s ability to perform depends on the state of the economy; we are talking about recovering money from businesses, so the state of the economy is very key. That is a challenge. We’ve started seeing some traction, businesses have started seeing some progress and some of them are picking up, that is also a challenge.

“Two, the judicial process. People rush to courts and the constitution gives them the right to do so, and that also slows us down. Three, the AMCON Act does not transfer ownership of the Eligible Bank Assets (EBA) directly to AMCON. We have to go through the legal process to convert those assets to ourselves. That in itself is a challenge.”

In getting the “big boys” to pay their debts, the AMCON boss said: “It is not easy because they have perfected the art of going to court. They are scared of fulfilling their responsibilities; they are the ones that can easily personalise the issues and official function of debt recovery; they believe that people must have a motive for doing what they do. Clearly, if you’re not listening to what they want, you are opposing them. So it has not been easy. But I can tell you also that we are determined, and the government also is very determined that these monies have to be recovered even if it has to lead to an amendment of the AMCON Act.”

AMCON is expected to wind down by 2023, but in view of the slow and long legal proceedings, there is scepticism about the ability of the debt purchaser to conclude before the expiration of its tenure.

“You can only need a review if you want to sharpen your ability to recover. We discover some gaps that require some sharpening, and we will do that. I can tell you that the National Assembly members have been of tremendous support. The committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate are ready always to support us, to see how we can be more effective in recovering those debts.”

izzou:
Did the church meet the well before they started worshipping there?

Or did the well appear after they had settled there?

This story no done for my ear

The Nigerian Army and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC have uncovered another illegal oil well in Lagos State. This came barely two weeks after the police and other security agencies discovered about 10 houses on Ibadan and Abeokuta streets in Ilasamaja axis of the state, where wells where linked to oil pipelines through which diesel was siphoned.

Vanguard gathered that the supposed dug well was discovered last Thursday within the premises of Winners Satellite Church, Iyana-Odo, Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area, LCDA, it was filled Petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS.

The resident pastor, Oladela Paul who narrated to NSCDC Lagos Commandant, Tajudeen Balogun, who led the operation, said that the church had sent a formal complain to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC when they noticed the well was filled with PMS. He lamented that months after writing the NNPC for solution, the Church was yet to get any response from the Corporation, adding “well has become a source of harassment to the church and our members.

Aside the harassment, we are afraid of the impending hazard which we cannot determine.” Confirming the discovery, Balogun in a statement made available to vanguard by NSCDC Public Relation Officer, PRO, Kehinde Bada, said “the visit is to evaluate the extent of the spillage and take necessary actions.”

Slimflame:
E tire me o...but who gave them dat name... GIANT OF AFRICA

Debbywills:
Lol. I didn't affix any of this to my name.
So, i dunno. Ask 'em

swagzking11:
'ts an effect of lack of adequate home training

Agriculture is not the diversification we need , all the investment in Agriculture is geared towards self sufficiency not revenue earning.
If we can make tomato paste locally the cbn will stop funding its import saving huge fx in the long run.

989900:
22 from the 300, these things take time naturally for visible effect, then factor-in the sluggishness associated with this admin, who knows, the funds may not have been released yet, or just released, but they will get it, unlike previous admins
. . contractors are getting paid already at least.

The Lagos State Government and the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation on Thursday commenced talks on partnership for massive provision of affordable housing for Federal and State civil servants to address housing deficit especially for workers in the State.

Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, who disclosed this while leading a technical delegation to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the Lagos House in Ikeja, said the decision to go into partnership with the state government followed the need to key into the housing programme of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

She said under the scheme known as the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) programme, the Lagos State Government would be required to provide land for development of affordable housing for Federal civil servants, while 10 to 15 percentage of the scheme would be made available for civil servants in the State, who would benefit as the State’s equity contribution to the scheme.

The Federal HOS, who was received by the Lagos State Head of Service, Mrs Olabowale Ademola and top government functionaries in the housing sector on behalf of Governor Ambode, said the decision to partner with the state government was borne out of the fact that many civil servants were willing to own properties in Lagos, being the commercial capital of Nigeria.

Oyo-Ita said: “We are here today to introduce to you Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) Programme which is a welfare programme for federal civil servants that aspire to provide affordable housing for civil servants.
“Lagos State is critical to this scheme and it is so because Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria and apart from the fact that quite a number of Lagos State indigene who are federal civil servants would want to own their homes here in Lagos State, there is a cross-section of Nigerians like somebody like me who grew up in Lagos who will like to have homes in Lagos State.”

She added that aside the fact that Lagos stood to benefit immensely from the scheme in terms of property tax and income tax, arrangement was also ongoing with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and other international agencies to grant single digit loan to estate developers to develop the scheme.
Responding, Mrs. Ademola said the deliberations at the meeting would be conveyed to the Governor and assured that appropriate communication would soon been made.
Mrs. Ademola alongside other top government functionaries in Lagos State, however raised enquiries as to the benefit for civil servants in the State, after which the Chairman of the FISH scheme and Permanent Secretary in the office of the Federal Head of Service, Mr. Yemi Adelakun assured of 10 to 15 per cent reservation for State civil servants.

It was also agreed that a joint technical committee should be set up to work out and fine tune the process in terms of benefit to State civil servants.

The Federal Government has announced plans to accelerate contraceptive prevalence rate in Nigeria to 36 per cent by 2018.



This according to the Minister Of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, will help control the imminent population explosion and also improve the quality of life for women and children.

Prof Adewole, who was speaking at an event on family planning, said the present administration is poised at making family planning a national policy.

He noted that with statistics from the United Nation Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) show that 2,300 under five-year olds and 145 women die daily, this tragic history can be reversed when women have access to the use of contraceptives and space their children

While a major challenge to effective family planning by most women is said to be socio-cultural, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Prof Babatunde Osotimehin, is of the opinion that advocacy to women, who are yet to key into the use of contraceptives is necessary.

Nigeria currently has a contraceptive prevalence rate of 15.1 percent.

Joel3:
people are hungry and you are talking shit... abeg allow them to collect it first oh before thinking of tomorrow.


in edo state some workers has not been paid 19 month salaries. tell me why will the economy not enter recession.,