The President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Babatunde Ruwase, has lauded the National Assembly on the passage of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) Act amendment Bill in view of its potential to grow small businesses in the country.
The Chief Press Secretary to the President of the Senate, Sanni Onogu, stated that Ruwase gave the commendation when he led other executive members of the Chamber on a courtesy visit to the President of the Senate.
He described the passage of the CAMA Amendment Bill as a major step towards enhancing the business environment in the country.
The OPS’ leader expressed optimism that the Bill, when signed into law, would reduce the burden of reporting obligations for small businesses, reduce time and cost of setting up a company and also facilitate the transition of many informal sector players to the formal sector of the economy.
While noting that the amendment is timely given the current economic realities as the country cannot “afford a static legislation in a dynamic business and economic environment”, Ruwase noted that the importance of the legislation was in the fact that its provisions aligned with contemporary realities in the economy.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, thanked the LCCI’s delegation and its members for their contributions to the nation’s economic growth.
He pointed out that the Senate was committed to working with the private sector to grow the nation’s economy, adding that there are still some laws requiring amendments in order to improve the ease of doing business in the country.
He said: “This is a Senate that is very pro-business. We believe that our role as a government is to create enabling environment that will allow businesses to thrive.
“Even in the area of infrastructure, our focus has been on how we can pass laws to enable private sector participation. With our reforms in railways, ports and road construction and maintenance, we hope that the private sector will play a bigger role with the bills we have passed.
“There are some bills that are still pending like the Investment and Securities bill where there is a major amendment that we hope to pass very soon. We are also looking into the reform of the Stock Exchange to make it more attractive and also in line with global best practice”, the Senate President added.
