President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Babatunde Paul Ruwase, has lauded the passage of the Companies and Allied Matters (CAMA) Act amendment Bill by the Senate, and said the development will greatly boost and increase the viability of small businesses in the country.

Ruwase gave the commendation when he led other executive members of the Chamber on a courtesy visit to the President of the Senate, on Thursday.

The LCCI boss noted that the passage of the CAMA amendment Bill is a major step towards enhancing the business environment in the country.

He noted 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.

He said that the amendment is timely in view of present economic realities as the country cannot “afford a static legislation in a dynamic business and economic environment.”

Ruwase further stated that the beauty of a legislation lies in how well it is aligned with contemporary realities and thanked the President of the Senate for the “efforts of the Red Chamber in promoting private sector development and for collaboration.”

“The fact that your Excellency has a private sector background has brought a lot of value to the content and processes of legislation,” he added.

In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, thanked the LCCI and its members for their contributions to the nation’s economic growth.

He noted that the 8th Senate has been keen on working with the private sector to improve the nation’s economy and business environment right from its inception in 2015.

He said that the Senate with the collaboration of major players in the private sector had identified a number of critical laws that required urgent review to improve the ease of doing business in the country, most of which have now been passed and signed into law.

“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,” he said.

Saraki said the aim of the Senate is to strengthen the economy and be able to provide jobs for the youth through legislation.

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