Economy
Senate Empowers AMCON to Seize Debtors’ Assets
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The powers of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) have been expanded following the passage of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria Amendment bill on Wednesday by the Senate.
The passage of the piece of legislature will empower the agency to seize assets belonging to debtors even if it was not used as collateral for securing a loan.
AMCON was established by the federal government to buy over bad debts and it was because of the rising non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking sector in Nigeria some years ago.
The government, worried that bad debts could crash the financial sector, set up the agency, which began to acquire these debts.
In 2019, the organisation said the total debts yet to be recovered were about N5.4 trillion and they were owed by some powerful Nigerians.
Early this year, the Group Head of Enforcement at AMCON, Mr Joshua Ikioda, had said at a two-day training for Federal High Court legal assistants and court registrars in Abuja that about N1 trillion has been recovered in two years.
“The N4.4 trillion held by AMCON is bigger than the N3.85 trillion capital expenditure budget of the federal government for 2021, the N3.12 trillion for total foreign debt service and personnel cost of N3.7 trillion,” he had disclosed, adding that 360 debtors represent 80 per cent of the N4.4 trillion of the total outstanding debt to the corporation.
In order to assist the agency to recoup these funds, the upper chamber of the National Assembly made a law to allow it to take possession of properties of debtors.
The red chamber of the parliament also gave AMCON the authority to access the Special Tribunal established by the BOFIA, 2020 for dealing with financial related matters.
Today, the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions chaired by Mr Uba Sani submitted its report.
Mr Sani informed his colleagues that during engagements with stakeholders in the financial sector, it was agreed that there was the need for the agency to be empowered to take possession, manage, foreclose or sell, transfer, assign or otherwise of property used as collateral for eligible bank assets among others.
But Senator Chukwuka Utazi opposed the seizure of assets traced to debtors, arguing that these bad debts were in the first place a product of the collaboration between the banks and their debtors.
On his part, the Deputy Senate President, Mr Ovie Omo-Agege, said he was not pleased with the idea of AMCON taking possession of assets not used as collateral for such loans in the first place.
“The essence of collateral is that when you default in payment, you lose that asset but what I am reading here is that in addition to seizing that asset, AMCON wants to go beyond that to every other asset or property that is traceable to the debtor. I think I need some clarifications to that,” he submitted.
In explaining the rationale behind this, Senator Adamu Aliero said the idea is to have stringent measures in place for the recovery of debts.
“If you can recall, during debate on this bill, Senators made it abundantly clear that these debtors are taking government money and they are using it freely and going free and we need stringent measures to be enforced to recover the money,” the lawmaker explained.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Thirty-one companies on Tuesday emerged as winners of the 2025 licensing round of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The energy firms competed to take control of 50 oil and gas blocks put on offer by the Nigerian government.
They were among the 143 companies that submitted 200 bids for the oil facilities drawn from diverse terrains, including the Niger Delta Onshore, Niger Delta Shallow Water, Niger Delta Deep Offshore, Benin Basin Onshore, Anambra Basin Onshore, Chad Basin Onshore and Benue Trough.
Business Post gathered that investors, however, were only interested in 37 out of the 50 oil blocks put up for sale by the NUPRC. This is the first time in Nigeria’s energy history that frontier basins would attract such a level of investor interest.
The organisations that won the bids include SSonic Petroleum Limited (PPL 2A29), CFP Pipeline and Flowlines (2A30), Dutchford E&P Limited (2A32), Attabanson Global Company Limited (2A33 and PPL 901), Rosem Energy Limited (2A38), Pivot-GIS Limited (2A39), Network E&P (2A40), Asharami (2A41), LexOil (2A42), BVOF (2A43), GupscoEnergy Limited (2A44 and 2A51), Saratoga (2A45), Volante (2A46), Concept-Reel Petroleum Services Limited (2A47 and 2A55), Clinton Oil Field (2A48 and 2A62) and Nuway Oaklane Limited (2A49).
Others are Ramec (2A50), Italia (2A53), Blueridge E&P (2A54), Up Energies Limited (2A56), AYM Shafa (2A57), Blackrock Holdings Limited (2A58), Funtay Integrated Business Limited (2A59), Riparian Development and Production Limited (2A60), Nikstallis (2A61 and PPL 900), Stardeep Petroleum (PPL 2010), Dakoda & U Limited (PPL308 and PPL 800), Southborne Oil and Gas Limited (PPL 902), Lanaka Petroleum (PPL 903) HighbanResources Limited (PPL 700), Eyre Energy Limited (PPL 801).
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose roughly 2 per cent on Tuesday as investors reacted to mounting concerns that escalating hostilities between the United States and Iran and threats by Yemen’s Houthis to blockade Saudi Arabia could disrupt global energy supplies.
Brent futures rose $1.79 or 2.0 per cent to $91.01 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.68 or 2.0 per cent to settle at $84.91 per barrel.
US forces bombed targets in the south and west of Iran while Iran targeted American sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan and at least one tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
Supply concerns resurfaced with the Strait essentially closed again and tanker traffic at multi-month lows, to the level from before the ceasefire between the US and Iran, which appears to be over at the moment.
Prices could go much higher if the renewed conflict drags on for a few more months, as the world has now drained a lot of the buffers that had kept oil surges in check between March and May.
Drained strategic and commercial inventories in many key oil-consuming economies, including the US, are setting the stage for further oil price rallies during the busiest oil demand season.
The just-declared Houthi blockade on Saudi maritime shipping has already begun to witness ill-effects, as reports emerge of two oil tankers having made U-turns while initially en route toward the Suez Canal. It was reported that their crews received threats from Houthi militants in Yemen.
The two oil tankers, which loaded Saudi crude for China and India, made U-turns in the Red Sea and headed toward the Suez following the warning from the militia.
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s power and desalination plants caught fire for a second straight day as US and Iran traded strikes for a tenth day.
As Russia’s war with Ukraine expands beyond Ukraine’s borders, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) has stopped receiving oil from Kazakhstan after suspending loadings on Monday due to attacks on oil tankers at its Black Sea terminal.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has passed a bill to repeal and re-enact the law establishing the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), paving the way for the regulatory agency to be renamed the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC).
The legislation, titled the Insurance Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2026, was passed after the Senate considered and adopted the report of its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East, who presented the report, stated that the proposed legislation was necessary because the existing National Insurance Commission Act of 1997 had become outdated and no longer reflected the realities of Nigeria’s evolving insurance industry or global regulatory standards.
According to the Senate, the decision to change the Commission’s name was informed by the need to eliminate confusion associated with the existing designation and to better reflect the institution’s regulatory mandate within Nigeria’s insurance industry.
The bill also provides legal protection for the commission and its officers against adverse claims arising from the lawful execution of their statutory duties.
However, he noted that the commission’s enabling law had become obsolete, exposing significant regulatory gaps that required urgent legislative intervention.
‘The current National Insurance Commission Act 1997 is outdated and does not adequately address the emerging economic growth, needs and development of the insurance business,” the lawmaker said.
He explained that the new legislation seeks to strengthen the independence of the commission by empowering it to make regulatory decisions without undue influence in the country’s insurance sector.
According to him, the bill also enhances the commission’s authority to exchange information and collaborate with domestic and international regulatory bodies, issue regulations, guidelines, standards and directives on insurance-related matters, and intervene more effectively in financially distressed insurance companies to protect policyholders and preserve financial stability.
This marks yet another move to strengthen the country’s insurance sector following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) of 2025 and the industry-wide recapitalisation exercise, which will wrap up by July 31.
