Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said it is unfair to say churches do not want to be accountable while also adding that the various concerns raised by the Church leaders on the controversial section of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) law can be addressed through a proposal to the National Assembly.
Osinbajo made the statement on Thursday in a special conversation moderated by Nduka Ogbeibena at the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference.
He said in response to a question according to a release by Laolu Akande, the VP’s media aide that “whatever the proposal for amendment may be, whatever the views of the leadership of the church may be, regarding the question of how the trustees, whether they are interim trustees or not, can be put in the form of a proposal that will be taken to the National Assembly for consideration for the amendment to the law, that is the process which is entirely opened and ought to be pursued.”
Osinbajo said further, “we are in a democracy and there is a process by which things can be done and that process is the one where you bring forward amendments to the National Assembly and they will do whatever is considered useful in the circumstance.”
He said the CAMA legislation covers a wide range of issues on companies – general meetings, the appointment of directors etc, noting however that “there is a small portion of it called the Incorporated Trustees Section, that small section of it is the section that regulates charities.
“Churches, Mosques and church organizations are regarded as charities. It is the Incorporated Trustees Section of the Companies and Allied Matters Act that has become controversial. And because churches are charities, the provisions in the incorporated trustees’ section obviously affect the churches.”
On the fears expressed by the Church, he said: “what the Churches are concerned about is a provision that says that in the event that some wrong-doing is found to be perpetrated by the trustees of the particular organization or Church, the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) can go to court and get an order to appoint interim administrators or interim trustees for the Church or whichever charity organization and manage the organization.”
“The concern of the Churches is that it could lead to a situation where practically anybody could be appointed as a trustee to oversee the Church and a Church or a Mosque is a spiritual organization and if you do not share the same faith with the Church or Mosque, you may be the wrong person and if a wrong is appointed, you may create more trouble for the organization,” the Vice President added.
When asked by the moderator if pastors are, by their actions, unwilling to be accountable in the management of their organizations, the Vice President said the issue is rather the fear of abuse of the law than avoiding accountability.
According to Prof. Osinbajo, “As a general position, I do not think it will be right to say that pastors don’t want to be accountable. I believe that several Christian organizations and pastors are willing to be accountable. The problems that they may have is ensuring that processes are not abused in such a way as to compromise the entire organization. And I think that if all that is required is some process of accountability, I think it will be easier for organizations to accept that.”
