The Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property has disclosed plans to recover N87 billion bad debts owed the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

The panel, in a statement on Wednesday, said its Chairman, Mr Okoi Obono-Obla, made the disclosure when he visited the bank’s Managing Director, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, in Abuja.

Obono-Obla said the debts arose from loans obtained by estate developers and primary mortgage institutions between 2009 and 2016, according to the statement signed by spokesperson of the panel, Lucie-Ann Laha.

He said preliminary investigations revealed that some of the loans were not used for the purpose for which they were obtained.

According to him, the loans were not serviced due to the bank’s failure to “enforce due process and procedures”.

Obono-Obla called on the FMBN management to cooperate with the panel by according it all the necessary assistance that would facilitate quick recovery of the debts.

The recovery, he explained, would enhance the financial base of the bank and reposition it to better achieve its mandate of facilitating home ownership by Nigerians.

Responding, the FMBN MD lauded the panel’s efforts in furtherance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign.

Dangiwa assured his guest of the bank’s co-operation in that regard adding that the FMBN was in full support of government’s anti-corruption war.

He cited some programmes and policies adopted by the bank in line with this position. (NAN)

•Chairman, Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Okoi Obono-Obla