L-R: Executive Director, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Dr Aminu Mukhtar Dan’amu; the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Other Ancillary Institutions, Hon. Ibrahim Mohammed Aminu; the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Eze Nwachukwu Eze; the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, AMCON, Mr Gbenga Alada, and Executive Director of Resolution, AMCON, Mr Adeshola Lamidi, at the recently concluded 2026 Stakeholders’ Retreat organised by the House of Representatives Committee in collaboration with AMCON in Lagos.
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has called for stronger legislative support to accelerate debt recovery and strengthen Nigeria’s financial system, disclosing that it had so far recovered ₦2.347 trillion from non-performing loans since its establishment but still has nearly 7,000 outstanding Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) valued at ₦1.167 trillion.
Managing Director of AMCON, Mr Gbenga Alade, made the appeal during the 2026 Stakeholders’ Retreat themed, “Balancing Recovery, Accountability and Economic Growth: The Future of AMCON in Nigeria’s Financial System,” recently organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Other Ancillary Institutions in collaboration with the corporation at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
The AMCON boss said the corporation was created in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, which triggered a banking crisis in Nigeria following massive foreign portfolio withdrawals, the collapse of the stock market and rising non-performing loans across the banking sector.
He recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had injected ₦620 billion into five banks after a special examination of 24 banks and guaranteed interbank lending and foreign creditors to restore confidence in the financial system. According to him, AMCON has purchased 12,743 non-performing loans worth ₦3.797 trillion from 22 eligible financial institutions at a purchase price of ₦1.8 trillion, while also injecting ₦2.2 trillion into eight bridged and intervened banks to stabilise the banking sector. These additional injections were without any collateral/ security backing.
He noted that AMCON took over Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank, in 2018 under the bridge bank arrangement initiated by the CBN and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). The MD noted that just 350 obligors account for more than 80 per cent of the loans acquired by AMCON, with nearly 300 of them currently involved in litigation at different levels of the court, a situation he described as a major obstacle to debt recovery.
He added that the Corporation currently has about 2,000 cases pending before the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, accusing some debtors of exploiting legal technicalities to frustrate recovery efforts.
Highlighting recent gains, he said the Supreme Court had delivered a landmark judgment recognising the AMCON Act as a special legal regime, exempting the corporation from paying stamp duties and affirming its authority to dispose of collateral tied to eligible bank assets.
The Corporation said it would intensify asset sales, strengthen engagement with the judiciary, improve incentives for external solicitors, enhance local and international asset tracing, pursue alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and continue negotiations with willing obligors for out-of-court settlements, amongst other strategies.
AMCON urged the House Committee to sustain its support, describing legislative backing as essential to fulfilling its mandate of stabilising Nigeria’s financial system. In his opening address, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Other Ancillary Institutions, Hon. Eze Nwachukwu Eze, described AMCON as one of Nigeria’s most significant financial sector interventions following the 2008–2009 global financial crisis.
He said the corporation acquired more than 12,000 eligible bank assets with a face value exceeding ₦5 trillion, recapitalised distressed financial institutions, protected millions of depositors and helped preserve confidence in Nigeria’s banking industry. The lawmaker noted that Nigeria’s banking industry now holds assets exceeding ₦170 trillion, while the financial and insurance sector contributes about 4 to 5 per cent of the country’s real Gross Domestic Product.
Eze said prolonged litigation, weak asset tracing, dissipation of collateral and abuse of judicial processes continue to undermine debt recovery efforts, stressing that every unrecovered asset represents resources that could have supported infrastructure development, job creation and economic growth.
He called for legislative reforms to strengthen AMCON’s recovery powers, improve regulatory coordination, enhance corporate governance and prepare Nigeria for future financial sector challenges after the corporation completes its mandate. The committee chairman expressed confidence that the retreat would produce practical recommendations to improve debt recovery, strengthen institutional collaboration and reinforce the country’s financial stability.
