The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has disclosed the reason its proposing the amendment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act.
The commission said the Amendment Bill, which is awaiting the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari, would help strengthen its supervisory and regulatory powers.
Acting Registrar-General, CAC, Hajiya Saratu Shafii, said that the CAMA bill had been in operation for over 20 years without any form of an amendment and that it had become pertinent for the bill to be changed in line with global standards and practices.
Why this matters: Shafii made known that one major review that would be affected when the bill is amended is the right of one person to form a Private Limited Liability Company.
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Note that before the amendment, a minimum of two directors was required to incorporate a private limited company.
According to Shafii, the bill provides for mandatory beneficial ownership disclosure. It also gives power to the commission to classify Incorporated Trustees registered under Part C of CAMA and introduce new clauses from time to time.
The CAC Boss pleaded that the President should assent to the CAMA bill, stating that it would change how businesses are conducted in Nigeria.
[READ MORE: CAC delists over 40,000 dormant companies)
“I must mention that the commission’s vision of being a world-class companies’ registry is yet to be attained. To attain that status, it is imperative that the commission’s enabling law, the Companies and Allied Matters Act Amendment Bill, which has been passed by the National Assembly, is signed into law by Mr President.
“It should be noted that CAMA has been in existence for about 30 years without any significant review. With developments and changes in commercial transactions, the amendment became inevitable,” she added.
In a recent Nairametrics article, the Commission advised Nigerian firms to file their annual returns or face delisting from its register. Companies were advised to comply with these rules on time to avoid being slammed with penalties.
