President Muhammadu Buhari will soon sign the new companies and
allied matters bill into law in a bold step aimed at addressing
corporate challenges and enhancing business operating
environment.
Secretary of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment
Council (PEBEC) and Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, yesterday said
the President will soon sign the new Companies and Allied Matters
Act into law.
The new Companies and Allied Matters Bill is regarded as the
largest corporate reform in nearly 30 years and represents a
comprehensive re-enactment of the current Companies and Allied
Matters Act (CAMA) 1990. The new bill reviews several impediments
in the 1990 Act and comprehensively addresses several issues
affecting a company from incorporation to winding up and insolvency
in line with current global standards.
The new CAMA is expected to make doing business in Nigeria
easier and it is expected to serve as impetus for foreign
investments. Part of the amendments includes simplification of the
process of starting and growing business and alignment of corporate
structures and practices with business size, orientation and
financial capability.
Oduwole spoke at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos when
the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu
Enelamah led the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council
(PEBEC) to the Exchange in commemoration of the successful
completion of the reforms under National Action Plan (NAP) 4.0.
She said the PEBEC has been working to make Nigeria a
progressive and easier place to do business.
“It is a journey, though we are not there yet but we are
thankful for the support we received from the Nigerian Stock
Exchange (NSE), particularly, on the legislative aspect of the new
Companies and Allied Matters Act that will be signed into law by
the President very soon,” Oduwole said.
She emphasised the need for the private sector to partner with
the Council to grow the economy, pointing out that the government,
through the ease of doing business initiatives, has been working on
various reforms towards making the country attractive for
businesses to thrive.
Enelamah said the Federal Government and the NSE are committed
to stronger collaboration to deepen the Nigerian capital market and
boost the national economic development.
He said the partnership between government and the Exchange will
make the capital market to be better and stronger.
“We look at this partnership as extremely important and
therefore what we are doing today is not only symbolic, but
significant. We hope it will lead to a better cooperation and
relationship between the stock market and the government and within
the private sector and the government,” Enelamah said.
According to him, government is committed to deliver reforms
aimed at improving the enabling environment for doing business in
Nigeria through systemic interventions.
“We want businesses in the country to do well and this is the
role of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council,
which is primarily to support businesses to prosper,” Enelamah
said.
Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr.
Oscar Onyema commended the improvement in ease of doing business in
Nigeria noting that Nigeria has moved from 169 position in ease of
doing business ranking to about 126.
Doyen of Stockbrokers and Managing Director, Trust Yield
Securities, Alhaji Rasheed Yusuf, commended the call for robust
collaboration between government and the capital market
operators.
He urged the government to further use the capital market in the
implementation of national economic plan in order to achieve
accelerated economic growth and development noting that the
deficits in government’s budget could be financed through the
capital market.
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