The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions has promised to review the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) in order to grant additional capacity to shareholders to oversee the operations of their business investments.
The committee chaired by Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, made this known on Thursday in Abuja during its interactions with the board members of the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria (BDAN), (LTD/GTE), led by its Chairman, Mustafa Chike-Obi.
Informing he BDAN that the Senate is amending the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation Act (NDIC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act, Abiru promised that the Committee would examine the current CAMA, with the view to bringing it in line with current realities.
He stated that the problems highlighted by BDAN would be addressed at completion of the amendments saying that the Senate would ensure synergy between the fiscal and monetary authorities.
Chike-Obi who spoke at length on the urgent need to amend the CAMA, in tandem with current realities, said the Act provides that one third of all the directors of companies (banks in this case) must be independent directors but unfortunately for banks, half of their directors are usually predominantly “Executive directors.”
Pointing out the problem, Chike-Obi said that if one third were selected, it would imply that one third of the half are independent.
