Tag: economy

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Black Holes in the Public Purse by Lawson Akhigbe

This is not an isolated comedy of errors. It is a textbook illustration of the black holes deliberately engineered into Nigeria’s public finance architecture opaque pockets that swallow money, evade legislative eyes, and render executives unaccountable. The Bodija tranche is merely one shiny pebble in a vast, dark galaxy of special interventions, contingency advances, service-wide votes, ecological funds, security “emergency” deductions, and other discretionary vehicles that allow the executive to move (or park) billions with minimal sunlight.

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Ponzi Loans and Politicians by Lawson Akhigbe

AMCON has repeatedly noted that a small number of high-profile obligors (often 300–400 individuals/entities) account for 70–80% of its outstanding portfolio (peaking around ₦4.5–5 trillion in various reports). Many of these involve politicians or their allied companies, where debts originated from pre-AMCON bank loans (e.g., Union Bank, Skye Bank facilities) that turned non-performing due to factors like margin lending, poor governance, or economic shocks.

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Senator Debtor’s ‘Art of the Deal’: A 10-Step Guide to Evading AMCON Recoveries

Get the Loan. (This is the easy part). Preferably a large, multi-billion naira sum from a struggling bank. Use your political clout as collateral – it’s worth more than anything tangible!

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Overview of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) by Lawson Akhigbe

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) represents one of Nigeria’s most significant financial interventions in response to systemic banking distress. Its debt enforcement history reflects a blend of aggressive statutory powers, evolving legislative enhancements, notable operational successes, persistent challenges, and occasional perceptions of uneven application influenced by political or economic factors. Below is a thorough, chronological exploration of AMCON’s enforcement journey, including context, key mechanisms, statistics, notable cases (with nuances around the Ben Murray-Bruce/Silverbird matter), challenges, and broader implications.

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Government by Vibes: Governor Okpebholo’s London Roadshow and the Cost of Governing Without Institutions by Lawson Akhigbe

His administration, he argued, is practical rather than bureaucratic. It is interested in action, not process. The legacy programmes of his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki, have largely been dismantled. EdoBEST has gone. The Security Control Centre has gone. EdoGIS is going. Consultants have gone. Due process, one gathered, has become something to be viewed with suspicion rather than embraced as the machinery through which modern government functions.

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