The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, on Thursday said there was a need for AMCON to be equipped with radical powers that were disconnected from common sense, which would make it possible for the corporation to meet its mandate.
He was quoted in a statement by AMCON with the title ‘N5tn Debt: AMCON requires complementary radical powers – Justice Tsoho’.
According to the statement, while addressing judges of the Federal High Court at the 36th annual judges conference in Abuja at an interactive session with the management of AMCON, Tsoho highlighted what he called the ‘eight factors’ that were primarily responsible for the crisis in Nigeria banking system, which led to the creation of AMCON.
He also explained why the nation must support AMCON to recover the outstanding debts and ensure that the financial rascality that led to the creation of AMCON was prevented.
He said his concerns for the financial system in the country was premised on the fact that the crisis further exposed a litany of other lapses in the financial system that needed to be addressed to prevent total collapse at the time.
Tsoho noted that the Nigerian government responded by establishing AMCON to help in stimulating recovery of the Nigerian banking system through the buying of non-performing assets of troubled banks and recapitalise the banks.
He said, “Eight factors were primarily responsible for the crisis in Nigeria. They include macro-economic instability caused by large and sudden capital inflows; major failures in corporate governance in banks;
“Lack of investor and consumer sophistication; inadequate disclosure and transparency about the financial position of banks; critical gaps in regulatory framework and regulations; uneven supervision and enforcement;
“Unstructured governance and management processes at the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as weakness in the business environment.”
He added that although Nigerian banks were restructured prior to the 2008/2009 financial crisis through consolidation, the restructuring was not able to shield the Deposit Money Banks in the country from the effects of the crisis.
He said this was due to all manners of recklessness in the banking system, which the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) was battling to correct.
