The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has said that the new Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) has come to stay despite the criticisms trailing it.
The Commission insisted that it would go ahead with the implementation of the law as soon as the National Assembly properly gazettes it.
The CAMA bill, which was recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, has continued to receive immense criticisms mostly from the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
The critics argued that the new law would negatively impact on their organisations, pointing out they do not receive funding from the Federal Government.
However, in his message to the Commerce Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) retreat held yesterday in Abuja, the CAC Registrar-General, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, said that time has come for all registered organisations with the Commission to ensure they manage their association properly in line with extant laws.
His words: “They must henceforth subject their finances and expenditures for proper auditing, and copies sent to us at the CAC.
The new legal framework applies to all organisations registered with us be it a religious organisation, NGO or CSO.
“Remember that they also have constitutions guiding them. The criteria to be a trustee of registered organisations are clearly spelt out in the laws establishing them. The laws provide for minimum standards; the constitution also spelt this out. It similarly spelt out how they are supposed to be run. The law says once you submit yourself by accepting to register with the CAC, you are bound to obey all its laws as well.”
Abubakar asked: “How is it that a registered member who qualifies to be a trustee in an organisation would not want government to know how the organisation is run? What are the responsibilities of the trustees? What are the responsibilities of the governing council or the board? How do you manage the affairs of the organisation? How do you use or expend the income and properties of the organisation? How do you appoint members of the governing board? These are the issues the new CAMA has come to address.”
He said any organisation that does not want to be de-registered must submit itself to proper auditing and their statements sent to government, stressing that failure do so would spell doom for such organisation.
According to him, the new CAMA law would not only bring sanity to the running of organisations but also ensure their smooth running.
GUARDIAN
