Arumem-Ikhide had acknowledged the debts owed to the corporation in several agreements and had signed a repayment agreement but failed to honor these commitments
ICYMI: AMCON Vows to Recover N455 Billion Debt from Arik Air Founder, Arumem-Ikhide
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is committed to recovering the debt owed by Arik Air, a Nigerian airline. Currently managing the airline under receivership, AMCON has addressed the false claims made by its owner, Johnson Arumem-Ikhide, about the corporation and its officials. AMCON emphasized that the matter is already in court.
Jude Nwauzor, the Head of Corporate Communications at AMCON, stated that as of December 31, 2024, the total debts attributed to Arumem-Ikhide across all his investments amount to N455 billion, 171 million, 764 thousand, 772.80 naira.
Nwauzor made these remarks during a recent interaction with aviation correspondents in Lagos. He confirmed that AMCON’s intervention in February 2017 had saved Arik Air from liquidation. The corporation reassured that it would continue to work towards recovering all debts owed to it by various business ventures.
He detailed the breakdown of the debts, indicating that as of December 2024, Arik Air owes AMCON N227 billion, while Rockson Engineering owes N163 billion and Ojemai Farms owes an additional 14 billion naira. This brings the total debt owed by the three companies, all owned by Arumem-Ikhide, to N455 billion naira.
The publicist of AMCON stated further that Arumem-Ikhide had acknowledged the debts owed to the corporation in several agreements and had signed a repayment agreement but failed to honor these commitments. AMCON emphasized that despite ongoing negative campaigns against it, they remain determined to recover the debts and return the companies to profitability.
It was noted that AMCON acquired the debts from Union Bank and Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank) to help keep the banks operational. Nwauzor pointed out that Arik Air was taken over through a legal process.
According to him, AMCON has been a stakeholder in Arik Air since 2011 but was compelled to take control of the company in 2017 by appointing a receiver manager after various interventions proved unsuccessful. He explained that the receiver manager had the option to either manage or liquidate the assets of a debtor company like Arik Air. However, AMCON chose to keep the airline operational with the support of the Federal Government.
He said, “If you recall, at the time, there was no Air Peace, United Nigeria, and a few other airlines that we have today.
“The Federal Government, at the time, suggested to AMCON to save the over 1,500 jobs that would have been lost if the airline was liquidated, advised us to manage the airline. That was the mandate of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“As you know, AMCON is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Ministry of Finance and guided by the Act that set it up. What that means is that you cannot play outside the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If push comes to shove, we have the option to liquidate the company and any other debtor organisation. But, we are still today managing Arik, which was insolvent in 2015.
“We did the forensic evaluation of Arik Air in 2015 and 2016. The report wrote off Arik as an insolvent company. The experts proposed that we should liquidate the airline and move away. Even, the liquidators would not have recovered a fraction of the debts.”
Scrutiny of a document provided by AMCON to our correspondent showed that no fewer than 19 of the 30 aircraft taken over by AMCON were not operational at the time of the takeover by AMCON,
Efforts to speak with the spokesperson for Arik Air owner, Lanre Bamgbose, were unsuccessful as he neither picked up his call nor responded to text messages of enquiries on the subject matter. Read More
