CAN tells Buhari to suspend controversial CAMA 2020

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to issue directives to suspend implementation of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.

Rev. Samson Ayokunle, CAN President, made the call at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

Recall that the National Assembly passed the CAMA bill earlier this year and the president signed it into law on Aug. 7.

Ayokunle said that comments in public domain were beginning to indicate that the Act was capable of further undermining the faith of stakeholders in the Nigerian state.

The CAN president, represented by, Rev. William Okoye, General Overseer, All Christians Fellowship Mission (ACFM), said that the association had not been availed with the authentic version of the Act.

“We consider the Act a complex of statecraft compendium, laden with issues inimical to peace and stability and overall wellbeing of the country.

“From the reactions of stakeholders and a cross-section of the people it is apparent the Act either did not receive input from various interest groups or failed to accommodate their views.

“There is need for stakeholders to seek judicial intervention or amendment of the Act.

“We must allay stakeholders’ fears and encourage them to exercise their democratic rights, hoping that when citizens approach the state institutions they shall rise up to the challenge,” he said.

The CAN president urged Buhari to issue the appropriate directives to suspend the implementation of the Act based on stakeholders’ opinions and affirm a thorough reappraisal of the legislation.

He said the directive should be in correlation with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), other extant legal and policy frameworks, the national economy, national security, national interest and the wellbeing of the people.

Source: News Agency Of Nigeria

Buhari signs amended Companies and Allied Matters Bill

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, assented to the Companies and Allied Matters Bill, 2020 recently passed by the National Assembly.

A presidential aide, Femi Adesina, in a statement, said President Buhari’s action on the important piece of legislation had repealed and replaced the extant Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

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Adesina said the amended law had introduced several corporate legal innovations geared toward enhancing ease of doing business in the country after 30 years.

The innovations, according to the statement, include: “Filing fee reductions and other reforms to make it easier and cheaper for small and medium-sized enterprises to register and reform their businesses in Nigeria.

It also included: “Allowing corporate promoters of companies to establish private companies with a single member or shareholder, and creating limited liability partnerships and limited partnerships to give investors and business people alternative forms of carrying out their business in an efficient and flexible way.”

In addition, Adesina said the new law allowed: “Innovating processes and procedures to ease the operations of companies, such as introducing Statements of Compliance; replacing ‘authorized share capital’ with minimum share capital to reduce costs of incorporating companies; and providing for electronic filing, electronic share transfers, e-meetings as well as remote general meetings for private companies in response to the disruptions to close contact physical meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic;

“Requiring the disclosure of persons with significant control of companies in a register of beneficial owners to enhance corporate accountability and transparency; and

“Enhancing the minority shareholder protection and engagement; introducing enhanced business rescue reforms for insolvent companies; and permitting the merger of Incorporated Trustees for associations that share similar aims and objectives.”