Posted Fri, Sep 17, 2021 4:55 AM

#NES27 Pre-Summit Event: Implementation, Impact and Challenges of the CAMA 2020 Act

The National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER), a partnership between the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBASBL) on Thursday 16th of September, 2021 held a pre 27th Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES27) event with the theme “CAMA 2020 – One year on: Implementation, Impact and Challenges.”

While delivering the welcome address, NESG Board member, Mr. Nnanna Ude said that Nigeria’s growth trajectory is not in tandem with its potentials and it is against the background that #NES27 will convene national and global policy makers, business leaders, development partners and scholars to lead and participate in sessions that will urgently and actively prioritise the pursuit of economic growth that can sustainably create jobs, lift millions out of poverty and enable Nigeria to realise its economic potentials on the global stage.

Mr. Ude stated that it was important to create a transparent and enabling environment that encourages businesses to thrive, noting that the defunct Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) had been in use for 30 years before it was repealed and replaced with the Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020.  He noted the importance of convening stakeholders to analyze the impact and challenges faced in the implementation of the CAMA Act 2020, as that will help facilitate job creation and quicker economic growth.

Speaking during the panel session, the registrar-general of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr. Garba Abubakar revealed that it took about three months before the CAMA Act 2020 was published in the federal government official gazette and that the CAC had to come up with a number of regulations and inputs to ensure the implementation of the CAMA Act.

Mr. Abubakar stated that new features are continually added to the systems and that the CAMA Act has helped to immensely simplify the procedure for company registration. He noted that companies can now choose to either have an electronic account on the CAC portal or go through registrars to assess CAC services, and that the electronic systems put in place has helped to make it easier for companies to file and track their registrations.    

The CAC Registrar-general also noted that there has been a significant reduction in registration fees, even as the new system is serious about privacy and data protection. He also revealed that the CAC are optimistic about ensuring that Nigeria ranks as one of the top ten countries in the world with significant ease of doing business, even as they ensure that applications are treated on first come, first serve basis, while also instituting other measures that will ease company registrations.

Managing Director, DCSL corporate services limited, Ms. Bisi Adeyemi stated that CAMA recognizes electronic signatures and has helped to significantly reduce the hassles of sending documents requiring signatures of directors to the CAC. She also noted that filing and registration is now automated and companies can now hold their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) virtually.

Furthermore, Ms. Adeyemi revealed that there are a number of provisions in the CAMA Act which has helped to strengthen governance including the requirement for three independent directors which have helped to make public companies more independent, and a section which requires individuals not to sit on the board of more than five companies and to declare the number of company boards they sit on as directors. She reiterated that while it may be hard to legislate good behaviour, CAMA will help to serve as a guide for companies to follow.  

Ms. Odunoluwa Longe, co-founder TLP Advisory said that the introduction of digital signature in CAMA 2020 has been a huge positive for SMEs, along with the fact that owners can now make use of only one director and can access the CAC portal themselves and being able to register as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP). Furthermore,

Ms. Longe stated that while there are a number of execution challenges, the CAMA framework encourages the ease of business, easy access to credit and has generally helped to increase loan availability. She however noted that the cost of searching for a business name and the length of time it takes portends a challenge to SMEs and that the AC should do its best to stay up to date with regulations instituted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to ensure consistency in the implementation of financial laws.