BY INNOCENT ANABA

Business Recovery Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria, BRIPAN, has tasked regulators in Nigeria’s financial sector to effectively deploy strategies that will help drive the growth of the country’s capital, money market and financial sectors, in general.

President of BRIPAN, Chief Anthony Idigbe, who stated this at a press briefing in Lagos, as part of activities to herald the association’s international workshop scheduled for  June 7 – 8 as well as it fellowship workshop, slated for  May 29-30 in  Lagos, advocated the creation of a well-articulated regulatory regime saying it will help  mitigate the impact of the global economic meltdown in the country.

According to him, if this was not done, Nigeria  will be worst hit by the economy Tsuanmi  as being witnessed in  some European countries, despite the assurances of the government.

He said if Nigeria was proactive in putting in place a regulatory regime as shown in other economies, the projected economic melt down might not have much impact on the nation’s economy.

He added that “BRIPAN has consistently be reaching out to all government institution such as Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, which deals with banking insolvency, other institutions such as Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC; Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC; Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and Federal Ministry of Justice, which is very pivotal to the issue of our own legislative agenda.

“If some of Nigeria companies that are becoming multi nationals today should have a challenge and they are not bank, will there be AMCON or is there an instrument by which there will be an intervention to save the factory  and jobs. AMCON is progress so far, but there is still a lot to be done.  That is why we are pushing this agenda for progress in insolvency in Nigeria beyond where we are today.”

Idigbe said the workshop, with the theme: “Insolvency and Economic Development Particularly in an Emerging Economy,” will be attended by policy makers, regulators and private practitioners in Nigeria and Africa  to share  insolvency and restructuring  reform experiences and challenges in their region.

He expressed BRIPAN’s readiness to partner with government and other interest group to see how the Nigeria system can be improve to ensure that insolvency or global melt down had limited impact on the nation’s economy.

He also disclosed that BRIPAN now has an observer status at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, UNICITRAL, which he noted was a significant achievement for group and Nigeria, because UNICITRAL is a working group with an oversight over insolvency law, which  formulates and regulates international trade in cooperation with the World Trade Organisation, WTO.

Former President of the association,  Otunba Olutola Senbore,  said  the workshop was a two pronged effort to build capacity, since Nigeria was such a challenging environment  for business, where a lot companies are going under for various reasons.

He noted that the good news was that BRIPAN has the skills, to deal with those who are going under, adding that it was important for people to know that the fact that companies are having problems does not mean that there is no solution.