The Council of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law, NBA-SBL and the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, has said that both organisations will continue to collaborate in order to improve ease of doing business.
Speaking during a one-day stakeholders’ forum between the CAC and the NBA-SBL, AyuliJemide, vice-chair NBA-SBL said the Section, which is the specialisation arm of the NBA, will constantly engage the CAC because the CAC is the company house where all the businesses are registered and for business lawyers, it is the hub for businesses.
Jemidealso said that beyond the collaboration, he was hopeful that a new Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) will bring changes that will help the ease of doing business, as he expects both organisations to engage more on how to make sure that the law is not just signed but the intent of the law is put into operation.
Speaking on the Section’s expectations from the CAC, he said, “The need to go digital for CAC is urgent for us and has been there for several years. We have been talking about deploying technology to enhance the efficiency and it has been a very slow-moving train but with the current registrar general (RG) and the new chairman, we see a stronger will to get achieve this and to cross the finish line.
“The NBA-SBL will engage and collaborate more with the commission, to try to raise money by way of grants and endowments to achieve these objectives on a private basis and see how we can roll this out.”
Also speaking at the event, Ademola Seriki, chairman of CAC, said the NBA-SBL and the CAC are creating enormous awareness for the public.
He lamented that a lot of people meddle with files inside the CAC office and people point accusing fingers at CAC, stressing that it is high time both bodies create awareness so that people can know the importance and position of the law.
Seni Adio, SAN, Chairman of the NBA-SBL, who spoke enactment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act. It is a very revolutionary bill and once that bill is signed by Mr President it will further help ease of doing business in Nigeria.
“The NBA-SBL has always been at the forefront in trying to enhance the proficiency of commercial lawyers in Nigeria. SBL advocates for lawyers to become specialists, so that people become experts in their given areas of work and can provide legal services efficiency with expertise in the commercial space.”
Speaking during a fire-side chat with the vice chair of the NBA-SBL, the registrar general of the CAC, Garba Abubakar, said since he took over as the registrar general, he has identified areas that require urgent reforms.
“We are currently doing a review of our checklist and guidelines to make it more business friendly and to remove unnecessary bottlenecks that slows down our processes and procedures. So, what we have done is that most of the requirements that were alien to the law have been removed.”
On the objectives of NBA-SBL, he said the SBL has continued to improve the practice of commercial law in Nigeria and to make sure that commercial lawyers are competent and local lawyers are able to do the work locally.