If the statutory meaning of AMCON is Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, its practical, individualistic meaning is Asset Mismanagement Consortium of Nigeria. Established by an act of the National Assembly in July 2010 with an intended 10 years lifespan, AMCON was supposed to be an interventionist government institution.
The enduring leitmotif was in consonance with such other agencies elsewhere as the National Asset Management Agency of the Republic of Ireland and the Malaysia Pengurusan Danaharta with similar responsibilities. Unfortunately, the tragedy of our current condition is borne out of the fact that an organisation conceived to be a stabilising tool aimed at resolving the non-performing loan assets of banks and corporate organisations is performing its statutory function only in the breach. If the three-fold mandate of AMCON, which include reducing the level of non-performing loans on the books of eligible banks, assisting in the recapitalisation of banks deemed to be in grave danger, and managing all acquired assets in a manner consistent both with minimum resolution cost, is anything to go by, AMCON’s balance sheet is a sad tale of inconsistency and debauchery. 
In May 2017, AMCON took over all the assets belonging to Wokson International Limited, an Asaba-based conglomerate, and those of its principal, Dr. William Oki, as ordered by a court through the receiver, Mr. Robert Ohuoba, via a protective order from the court due to an alleged N5 billion debt. At about the same time, AMCON, again, announced its takeover of Gateway Portland Cement Limited in Ogun State over an alleged debt of about N3 billion, following an injunction granted against the company by the Federal High Court, Abeokuta Division, Ogun State. Before then was the rift between AMCON and the Hardley Suites on Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos. AMCON took over the sprawling Hardley Apartments, owned by former Nigerian international soccer star and Africa’s legend, Nwankwo Kanu, along with his ex-banker friend, Ayoola Gam-Ikon, over alleged debt of N924 million, in January 2016.
Another one is Aero Contractors, the oldest aviation company in the country, owned by the wealthy Ibru family. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had halted all credits to the airline over an alleged $200 million debt. In February 2016, the airline confirmed that the corporation had bought its debts, making it the highest shareholder with 50 per cent equities of Aero Contractor. AMCON consequently appointed a chairman to oversee the operations of the airline. The rest is now history.
Other companies that fell under AMCON’s hammer include the Daily Times of Nigeria Newspaper, which was taken over following an order by the Federal High Court in Lagos, presided over by Honourable Justice I. N. Buba, in February 2018, and Arik Air, arguably Nigeria’s largest local carrier, which was taken over in February 2017 over an alleged debt of N135 billion, just to mention a few. Reports have it that several companies that were hitherto operating marginally above insolvency have been drowned completely at the hands of AMCON. There are a few other companies in the category of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited that were affected adversely due to government’s deregulation and reregulation and they were caught in the web as they invested hugely in equipment and manpower. Such companies, it was understood, voluntarily approached AMCON with a proposal for support towards revamping the companies. In line with the ‘duties’ of AMCON, instead of playing their role perfectly, those in the corporation most times pursued a different agenda of selling off assets of those companies, allegedly to their cronies. At times, politics has been a determinant of which companies are badly categorised.
For most discerning Nigerians, to argue, therefore, that the nation has transited from one democratic administration to yet another with politicians that lack democratic temperament is to understate the matter. Also, for many dispassionate observers, our politicians have started displaying their poverty of commitment to the ideals and values of democracy. No patriotic Nigerian can contest that, in all things, national interest or our collective destiny should supercede individual or group considerations.
At a time of grave national unease such as this, politics must be banished from its base and amoral platform, and seen as a game that should create the level playing field for the citizenry, to leave a good legacy for future generations.
Just like the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Federal Government should set up an administrative panel of inquiry to probe the activities of AMCON since its inception in 2010 before the new board headed by Lametek Edward Adamu commences operations.
Impunity should not be encouraged in a democratic setting. AMCON should not be seen as an undertaker that must bury assumed ‘ailing’ companies, instead of reviving them.
• Amor, literary critic and journalist writes from Abuja.