After 28 years, the Senate will tomorrow commence the amendment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) to boost Nigeria’s business sector and the economy as a whole.
The amendment is informed by a bill, sponsored by the Senate leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), which proposes to review the law to reflect current realites
CAM, which has not been significantly amended in the last 28 years, was enacted as a decree by the military regime in 1990.
According to a summary on the bill, when passed into law by the National Assembly, the business landscape in Nigeria will be reorganised and freed from the constraints of several provisions in the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990, which obstruct modern business practices in the light of national and global business reforms.
The bill also seeks to provide an efficient means of regulating businesses, minimise the compliance burden of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), enhance transparency and shareholder engagement, and promote a friendly business climate in the country.
The proposed legislation now before the National Assembly will also address the seeming stagnancy and primitive methods of doing business in Nigeria, essentially to meet with the present international best practice as well as promote ease of doing business.
The introduction of model netting provisions in the bill as a means of mitigating credit risks, according to Abdullahi, would promote financial stability and investor confidence in the Nigerian financial sector and the economy.
Similarly, the economic impact of the provisions of the bill would ensure more business-friendly regulation for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The amendment to CAMA is also expected to have the potential to increase activities of MSMEs, with the overall effect of growing the nation’s economy in the process, providing more jobs and guaranteeing economic stability.
Reacting to the introduction of the bill by the Ninth Assembly, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said its passage and assent into law would rank Nigeria in the first 100 countries on ease of doing business.
He assured that the Senate would expeditiously consider and pass the bill into law given its significance towards strengthening the economy.
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