By Uche Amunike
The Nigerian Senate has confirmed Gbenga Alade as the new Managing Director of the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).
This disclosure was made by the Head of Corporate Communications Department of the financial institution, Mr. Jude Nwauzor, through a statement released to newsmen.
According to the statement, three other executive directors of the financial institution were also confirmed by the Senate.
Recall that in February, President Bola Tinubu approved the appointments of Gbenga Alade as Chief Executive Officer of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, to replace Ahmed Kuru who assumed office in August 2015.
Special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, made the announcement in a statement that was titled: ‘President Tinubu Appoints New AMCON Management Team.’
The president also appointed three other executive directors. They include Aminu Ismail, Lucky Adaghe and Adeshola Lamidi. Their appointments however remain pending until the Senate gives their confirmation.
Ngelale stated that President Bola Tinubu expects ‘unflagging dedication, professionalism, and dutifulness from the new appointees to ensure that the operations of AMCON are more efficient, transparent, and in consonance with his determination to sanitize the nation’s financial system to maximise value and enhance investor confidence in the Nigerian economy.’
Speaking on their confirmation, Nwauzor stated that the plenary gave their final confirmation on Tuesday after the screening exercise that was held by the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions. The committee was chaired by Senator Tokunbo Abiru, representing Lagos East.
He further stated that Abiru informed the Senate that the nominees were subjected to screening according to parliamentary rules and were found competent to serve as directors of AMCON.
He reiterated that they were all qualified and had the required experience in the job. His words: ‘They all have the job experience, just as the nominees also complied with the Code of Conduct rules. Most importantly, Abiru added that no petition was raised in objection to their nomination just as the nominees also complied with the Code of Conduct rules. Most importantly, Abiru added that no petition was raised in objection to their nomination”.
‘The plenary, which was presided by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, dissolved into the ‘Committee of the Whole’ to consider each nominee based on their merit, after which they were confirmed through voice note.’
Note that the new appointments came up after the demand was made by the Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Finance Institutions, that the agency should be dissolved for failing to recover liabilities amounting to N5 trillion. They made this demand when the former AMCON MD, Ahmed Kuru appeared before it to defend budgetary allocations made for the 2024 fiscal year by the agency.
During the budget defense, Kuru informed the federal senators that AMCON recovered about N648 billion, out of the agency’s total liabilities liabilities of N5trillion, as at September 20, 2023. This made the Senate call for the dissolution of AMCON as they were not active in recovering liabilities.
