The Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has said that the new Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) is to ensure more transparency and good governance in the way different organisations are run and is not specifically aimed at religious bodies, as it is being painted already.
It is about good governance, nothing else
“Frankly, I am actually surprised that a small minority of people are kicking against the opportunity for better governance, the opportunity to make sure that businesses, trustees, NGOs and even churches are not allowed to engage in fraudulent practices,” Oduwole said while responding to questions on Nigeria Info’s programme, Hard facts.
“If you’re compliant, why on earth would you be afraid? I think only the guilty are afraid. If everything is in order, what would be the problem with oversight?”CAMA is all about good governance — it is not religion-targeted, has nothing to do with religious affiliation. It applies to all trustee organisations alike. If there is a particular ground that feel thy are hard-done by the act, let them head back to the National Assembly and say they want any provisions ammended.”
Providing a background into the Act, Oduwole explained that its provisions have been in the country’s laws and it has taken the 8th and 9th Assembly and other stakeholder groups to see that the necessary ammendments are effected.
“As we are tidying up CAMA, we are tidying up all other things as well from the relics. The truth is, these laws have been there for over three decades amd we have seen all sorts of abuse in our climate.
“This is a democracy, this is a very good development for our business practices,” she added in response to questions from the host, Sandra Ezekwesili. “It is a very good development for transparency, for greater levels of oversight. I feel like we shouldn’t be emotive and we shouldn’t let things be taken into emotional areas or start using religion to becloud the issue. The act applies to all groups, christian and muslim. We should heat up the polity – let’s look at the facts.”
Oduwole pointed out that except for pockets of people beffudling the issue, The CAMA legislation has been extremely well received.
If agrieved, go to court
“I would encourage Nigerians to look at those provisions,” she said. “The National Assembly is open to receive feedback. When the National Assembly is working on legislation, Nigerians please attend the public hearings. Please, pay attention. Look at the provisions; see where it may concern you and make an imput. It will only make the legislation better and more reflective.
“If there is a particular ground that feel thy are hard-done by the act, let them head back to the National Assembly and say they want any provisions ammended.”
Oduwole who also doubles as head of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), wondered why some individuals are against the efforts of the administration to institute global best practices in the way businesses are managed across the board. If you know how pedestrian Nigeria’s insolvency laws were put in place, you would know that this is a non-issue.”
Anybody that has a grouse can go right back to the National Assembly, or go to court and challenge it and ask for an ammendment of that section. But for me, I am happy for businesses that may run into hardship; im excited that we have practitioners who are attracted to this area that’s not quite attractive or a hot potato.
Improving Ease of Doing Business
To the concern that government introduced exemptions into the Act to favour Chinese-owned companies, Oduwole said that was far from it.
“The government is extremely passionate about Nigerian businesses. We need jobs, we need employment, we need prosperity for all; government is under pressure to deliver for Nigerians. There is no way that we are now going to take time to makwe a legislation to favour Chinese companies.
“We have consistently worked on Ease of Doing Business. We are not there yet, but we have reforms that we have implemented, and we are moving the needle slowly and steadily.”
She said one of the intents of government is to reduce the regulatory burden on all hard-working entrepreneurs in the country.
“We are happy to bring in electronic meetings, electronic signatures, electronic transfer of shares, virtual meetings, even virtual AGMs for public companies. We are happy to bring in single-membership companies, limited liability partnerships.
“We are happy to bring in reduction of requirements to have a company Secretary, to have auditors because we want to reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria. We want to reduce the time it takes to do business in Nigeria.”
Oduwole said she wasn’t unmindful of the fact that that will always be people who would there be some people that’ll try to take advantage of certain provisions in the Act.
“But does that mean that we should hold back all the SMEs that would benefit from just being able to do their thing, especially our younger entrepreneurs? No.Would there be people that would always want to gain the system? Yes? Would they be caught? Sometimes. But when they are caught, the will be in trouble. They will face the law.
“So do we stop everybody because of a few bad eggs? No. There will always be bad eggs. We really need to jump-start this economy, we need to expand the sky. We’re not going to hold back our entrepreneurs from having a lighter burden, just because we are nervous about people commiting infractions.”
Nigeria ranks 131 on the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Index, but in the Top 10 Worldwide in the ‘Most Improved’ category.
