Reps bars AMCON from sale of bank assets

The House of Representatives yesterday urged the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to suspend further transactions on the sale of bank assets pending the outcome of its investigation.
It subsequently mandated its committee on banking and currency to investigate the alleged undervaluation and purchase, price racketeering of eligible bank assets, and non-compliance with due process by AMCON.
The directive was given following the adoption of a motion brought by Hon. Danburam Abubakar (APC Kano). Abubakar, in his lead debate, noted that the Corporation’s Act of 2010, which is an act of the National Assembly, has empowered AMCON to effectively resolve nonperforming loans assets of all banks in Nigeria. He informed the House that the corporation has put up for sale a total of 32 petroleum product storage tanks, otherwise known as tanks farms, in Apapa worth several billions of naira stems from failure of the oil companies to pay up their debts four years after the management of the corporation took over their nonperforming loans from commercial banks.
The lawmaker alleged that the process leading to the proposed sale of the 32 tanks farms, worth several billions of naira, by the corporation has been in contravention of section 28 of the AMCON Act 2010 which states that “the valuation of, and purchase price of eligible bank assets shall be determined in accordance with guidelines issued from time to time by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“Provided that in prescribing parameters for the valuation of, and purchase price of eligible bank assets, the CBN shall obtain and be guided by independent advice, publish and make widely available in the valuation basis and ensure consistent application of the valuation parameters.” According to him, the alleged under-valuation and sale of these assets could lead to loss of revenue to the Federal Government, promote inefficiency, waste, corruption and defeat the essence of the AMCON Act.
The motion was unanimously adopted by the House when it was put to vote by the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, and the motion was referred to the committees on finance, banking and currency for further legislative inputs. Meanwhile, the House yesterday passed for second reading the N456.64 billion supplementary appropriation bill submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.
Leading the debate on the budget, the Majority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos), said that the House owes it as a duty to Nigerians to approve the supplementary proposal sent to it by the president in line with provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “As at the time the 2015 budget was brought before this House, the benchmark was $53 per barrel and exchange rate of N199 to a dollar. So many things have changed for the worse since then, and the president inherited a very huge domestic and foreign debt with the economy almost grinding to a halt.
“I, therefore, urge this House to as a matter of national duty consider the sum being proposed by the president so as to tackle the myriads of problems facing the nation,” he said. The House leader argued that the passage of the supplementary appropriation bill was necessary in order to avert what he called a looming economic chaos threatening to topple order in the society.He pointed out that so much depends on the availability of funds through the supplementary appropriation if the business of governance must continue, enabling the programmes and agenda of the administration to succeed.
But chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyeojeocha (PDP, Abia), was the first to kick against the bill by frowning at what she called entrenched culture of non-implementation of budget by the Federal Government.
Following her submission, the minority leader, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) argued that: “By virtue of the provisions of our constitution, the President of the Federal Republic has the powers to present a supplementary budget. It is not so much about whether the budget is approved, but the focus should also be in terms of implementation”.
He faulted the Presidency for making extrabudgetary spending without the approval of the National Assembly, citing figures that have been unilaterally borrowed and spent outside the 2015 budget.
Ogor also alleged that the subsidy claims presented in the supplementary bill are too bogus for comfort, arguing that it is amazing how a president who had voiced his aversion to the concept of fuel subsidy would be incurring so much debt on subsidy. He was countered by the House Leader, Gbajabiamila, who raised a point of order wherein he sought to compel Ogor to withdraw his statement for misleading Nigerians. He said: “It is important that when we get up to speak on the floor of this House, we must speak the truth.
The president has, at no time, voiced his opinion denouncing subsidy in his capacity as the president of this country. The minority leader should not mislead and misinform the public and creating erroneous impression that the president wants to remove subsidy and impoverish the masses more.” Speaker Yakubu Dogara resolved the disagreement. He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the president has stated more than once that he is against the removal of subsidy which he believes is to the benefit of the masses.
Now if there’s any member in this House who has contrary information regarding that, I beg to be educated. When the speaker put the bill to a voice vote, there was no dissenting voice and it was passed and referred to the committees on appropriation and finance for further legislative action.