NAAPE decries IMF suggestion to wind up AMCON

[PeoplesDaily]

From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has described the recent call by the International Monetary Fund IMF for the winding up of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) as unnecessary.

The group's National President and General Secretary of the Isaac Balami and Aba Ocheme told reporters in Lagos that the reasons adduced by the IMF are flimsy and completely unacceptable.

"For one, AMCON is a special purpose intervention instrument which has been very diligent and most discerning in its assignment so much that its activities have been flawless up to date.

"Secondly, AMCON as we know it is not a debt forgiveness instrument but a means of debt re-working.

"Therefore it would appear that the IMF is crying wolf where there is none."

They affirmed that IMF's call fails to recognize the huge successes that AMCON has become as well as the tremendous positive impact it has had on the Nigerian economy.

According to Balami, "we cannot forget in a hurry how AMCON's intervention enabled Mainstream Bank, Keystone Bank and Enterprise Bank to successfully undergo otherwise painful liquidation exercise, yet have remained in business, even without significant loss of jobs.

"These interventions not only saved the airlines from going under but saved over 7,000 jobs.

"Without the interventions, the entire aviation sector in Nigeria would have collapsed like the textile sector suffered in the past."

"The government and people of Nigeria as well as her well wishers should applaud and commend AMCON and its clearly identifiable accomplishments.

"Accordingly, we are constrained to make this clarion call on the government and people of Nigeria to ignore IMF on this matter.

"It is nothing short of the usual imperialist chant that the IMF is identified with."

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