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AMCON ready to recover Tinapa’s debt

By on March 14, 2014

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) plans to send representatives to Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort to recover debts owed it, an official said.

The AMCON spokesman, Mr Kayode Lambo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday that was the only way AMCON could recover the debts.

The AMCON spokesman made the clarification against the background of insinuations that the agency had taken over Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort in Adiabo, Cross River.

The project was inaugurated in 2007 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Lambo said AMCON had not taken over Tinapa and that the issue of sending representatives to Tinapa was still under discussion.

The Public Relations Consultant to Tinapa, Mr Paul Eko, had told NAN in Adiabo on Wednesday that “there are no new developments except that AMCON had indicated interest in to bailout Tinapa.

“If you ask the Managing Director of Tinapa his views will not be different but we are set for greater heights in the coming years,’’ Eko said.

NAN recalls that AMCON in 2013 entered into an agreement with the Cross River Government for the transfer of its controlling interest in Tinapa.

The agreement allowed AMCON to buy back Tinapa’s debts of about N18.5 billion and provide about N26 billion to revitalise the resort and reposition it as a private sector-driven business enterprise.

A NAN check revealed that a letter to that effect was channelled to Mr Larry Odey, the Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, by the state government.

Odey thereafter informed members that the letter, SSG/GSA/300VOLXV1/223, titled “Re-approval for the transfer of controlling interest in Tinapa to AMCON’’, was a good development to the people of Cross River.

Mr Akande Bamidele, Comptroller of Customs, in-charge of Akwa- Ibom and Cross River, said companies operating in Tinapa had issued a 60-day notice that they would relocate from Tinapa.

The notice, according to Bamidele, states that the companies will relocate if something urgent is not done to improve on business climate there.

Bamidele, who spoke when he visited the Cross River Security Adviser, Mr Rekpene Bassey, said that access roads and a shallow seaport were some of the challenges raised by the investors.

Bassey said the state government was aware of the notice by investors at Tinapa and added that measures were being taken to address the challenges.

“Tinapa is dear to us that is why we have been investing so much to keep the place going. We are doing everything to address the complaints by the traders.

“Tinapa requires sustained qualitative and institutional support devoid of bureaucracy to survive and flourish.

“Cross River Government is working assiduously to upgrade and add value to the infrastructure and operational environment around the resort.

“That is why it has been handed over to AMCON to manage,’’ Bassey said. (NAN)