The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called for urgent gazetting and immediate implementation of the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, saying that delay is creating uncertainties in business decisions anchored on the law. This call is coming amidst the controversies surrounding the new law.
Director General, LCCI, Dr. Muda Yusuf, made the call in a statement yesterday. He noted that the delay in gazetting the law is yet another example of how bureaucratic bottlenecks are allowed to impede economic progress.
Recall that CAMA 2020 was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari over a month ago, following which several groups alleged that certain sections of the new law were draconian and could precipitate unwholesome take-over of private entities by the government. But Yusuf stated: “The legislation and the subsequent assent were widely applauded by the business community”, lamenting that six weeks after the legislation’s presidential assent it is yet to be gazetted.
He stated further, “The implication of this is that the formal copy of the law is not yet available to the public and therefore the law cannot be operationalized. This is yet another example of how bureaucratic bottlenecks could impede the progress of an economy. “Ordinarily, and in line with the ongoing digital revolution and the E- Government agenda of government, the law should have been uploaded on the Federal Government and National Assembly websites hours after the assent by the President.
“Being a major business legislation, the non-availability of the gazetted copy of CAMA 2020 has stalled many activities in the business environment. These are activities anchored on the new legislation.
“Additionally, the regulations that ought to be issued by the Corporate Affairs Commission on account of the new legislation have equally been stalled because there is no formal document to act upon.”
“The situation has created enormous uncertainty in business decisions which require the legislative anchor of CAMA 2020 to progress. As it were, a legislative vacuum has been created. The CAMA 1990 has been repealed, CAMA 2020 is yet to be gazetted, six weeks after assent.
“It is important that the bureaucracy works in tandem with the new normal of leveraging technology so that the desired outcomes of reforms can be achieved, and expeditiously too.
“The implementation of the e-Government programmes should be accelerated to make the public service smarter, efficient and cost effective. Given the current wave of digital revolution sweeping across the public and private sectors, the role of the Federal Government Press in the dissemination of official legislations and other publications is at risk of diminishing relevance.
“It has become imperative for electronic copies of official publications to be promptly disseminated to the public to ensure swift activation and access to the benefits and values which such publications offer for the economy and the society.”
