LCCI urges speedy gazette of CAMA 2020

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce& Industry (LCCI), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to gazette the Company and Allied Matters Act (2020) earlier assented to by him.

Its President, Dr Muda Yusuf, regretted that after six weeks of its legislation, the government has failed to gazette it.

On its implication, he said the failure to gazette the law meant that the formal copy of the law is not yet available to the public and, therefore, the law cannot be operationalised.

He said: “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’s and National Assembly’s websites hours after the assent by the President.”

Yusuf stated that being a major business legislation, the non-availability of the gazetted copy of CAMA 2020 has stalled many activities in the business environment.

According to him, the regulations that ought to be issued by the CAC on account of the new legislation have equally been stalled because there is no formal document to act upon.

He lamented that the situation has created enormous uncertainty in business decisions which require the legislative anchor of CAMA 2020 to progress.

He said: “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 The CAMA 1990 has been repealed; CAMA 2020 is yet to be gazetted, six weeks after assent.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.”

He said 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.

He urged the National Assembly and other relevant agencies of government to expeditiously gazette CAMA 2020 and make copies available to the public.