Senate President Abubakar Saraki has inaugurated an 18-man Technical Committee on the amendment of the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and the Investment and Security Act (ISA) with a charge to improve the ease of doing business in the country.
The Senate President also urged the Committee to work out modalities to halt the exodus of manufacturing companies from Nigeria to neighbouring countries due to harsh business environment.
He enjoined the technical committee to ensure that through the amendments of the CAMA and ISA to becomes a veritable instrument for economic diversification and job creation.
In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, the Senate President said: “Men and women with business ideas should be able to register and incorporate their companies without hassles and delay.
“For every business that we start, our nation benefits from employment, revenue generation, products and services to better our lives and enterprises that will help drive and reinforce our claims of being the fastest growing economy on the continent. This is were we want to see the Nigerian economy,” he said.
He noted that making the nation’s business environment competitive is the right thing to do in growing the economy as the Senate in collaboration with the private sector had identified the business environment as one of the major impediments to doing business in the country.
He stated that a detailed list was developed following the launch of the National Assembly Business Environment Round-table (NASSBER) last year which undertook a comprehensive review of the institutional, regulatory, legislative and associated instruments impeding Nigerian business.
Saraki said that through the collaborative process, a report was presented that identified the need to review 54 Acts and 50 bills that need to be passed, of which the 13 including the CAMA and ISA were designated priority.
He said that the NASSBER report identified these two laws as critical to the business environment, complimentary to one another and catalyst for the creation, innovation and sustainability or enterprises.
He said: “A reform of these laws is of utmost importance and that is why, in keeping with our commitment to employing the right resources at our disposal in developing the right legislation for our economy, we are constituting you – experts in the field, regulators, operators and practitioners alike, into a technical committee to neutrally apply your experience to advice the Senate through relevant committees on the best legislative options to enhance the quality or these bills.”
In her response, leader of the committee, Mrs. Ozofu Ogiemudia, pledged to justify the confidence reposed in them by the Senate as they are abreast with the difficulties encountered in doing business in Nigeria.