Appeal Court Moves to Fast-track Hearing of AMCON Cases

Declares support for debt recovery drive

The Court of Appeal is to establish a special taskforce to facilitate speedy hearing in cases concerning the Asset

Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

It also declared its support for the corporation in its debt recovery drive as well as resolution of troubled assets.

President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, at a seminar in Abuja for justices of the Court of Appeal on the newlyamended AMCON Act 2019, assured the corporation that measures would be put in place to eliminate any legal technicalities frustrating AMCON's cases at the appellate court.

She said the taskforce would be set up to discourage prolonged litigation under which debtors had hidden to frustrate debt repayments.

The seminar was sponsored by AMCON in conjunction with the Legal Academy.

"My Lords, it is compelling to remind you that AMCON

has a sunset date. This time constraint has made it necessary for AMCON to migrate to the enforcement gear. To accomplish its target as it approaches the sunset date, AMCON must be more proactive and ingenious in its approach towards the sooner realisation of its objectives.

"It is therefore beyond doubt that for AMCON to succeed, the support of the judiciary is decisive as the distinguished judiciary is the last hope of AMCON," she said.

Justice Bulkachuwa stated that the court has always supported AMCON within the bounds of the law and will continue to do so. She urged the corporation to commence a comprehensive compilation of its nascent jurisprudence so that it will be accessible to all.

She, however, enjoined her colleagues to effectively and passionately participate in the interaction, adding that their robust participation will broaden their familiarity with the new AMCON Act, "thereby engendering harmony in the implementation of the instrument based on the well informed rationalisation that will underscore our decisions."

The amended AMCON Act 2019, among others, makes it mandatory for the appellate court to decide an appeal relating to the corporation within 60 days.

The new Act also mandated heads of courts to designate courts that will consider only AMCON matters; prescribe AMCON exclusive Practice Directions as well as ordering judgment debtors who decide to appeal the decision of the lower court to deposit the judgment sum before the appeal can be considered by the Court of Appeal.

Also, the new law makes it an offence punishable by fine or imprisonment or both for any bank that refuses to give details of a debtor to AMCON. The objective of the new law is to ensure that AMCON's efforts towards speedy resolution of troubled assets within its sunset date are accomplished.

According to the Director General, Legal Academy, Dr Fatihu Abba, AMCON has an exposure to recover in excess of N5 trillion and unless something drastic is done this may not be realisable.

He commended the amendment of the AMCON Act, which he said leaves no room for debtors who hitherto have been employing all tactics, including the court, to frustrate AMCON's debt recovery efforts.

According to him, the new law criminalises certain conducts by banks and their officials, empowers AMCON to freeze accounts of banks as well as compel banks to disclose details of obligors.

"Debtors have hidden under the technicalities of the law because their appeals can drag on for eternity but the amended AMCON Act has made that technically impossible because it has prescribed 60 days within which an appeal must be heard at the Court of Appeal in relation to AMCON cases, and six months at the Federal High Court, the court of first instance," Abba said.