By Levi I. Shaapera.* Many years ago, in the great animal kingdom, there ruled a leader named Ikyu. His reign was marked by harsh, oppressive, and dictatorial rule. One of his most feared decrees was that no one should engage in any form of argument, be it public or private. A nearly impossible law to…
Kwande Local Government Area, located in Benue State, Nigeria, is renowned for its rich cultural heritage. The area’s economy primarily relies on agriculture, with crops like yam, cassava, rice, maize, millet, and groundnut being cultivated. The Local Government plays a vital role to Nigeria’s agricultural sector. However, the Local Government lacks infrastructure, including road networks,…
Retrospective operation of Statute is an application of the law to actions, which existed prior to the enactment of the said law. That is, such laws change or alter the legal consequences of acts that took place prior to its enactment. A retrospective law impairs an existing right by creating or imposing a new liability for an act committed before the enactment of a law. A retrospective legislation is contrary to the general principle of prospective operation of law; which provides for and, regulates the future acts of men, and does not interfere in any way with what happened in the past. The question that we face during the applicability of retrospective law is whether a statute or law, should be given a retrospective effect, which takes away or impairs an existing right or impose a new liability.
The consequence of the amendment is that public companies can no longer appoint a minimum of three (3) independent directors. The new requirement compels public companies to appoint not less than one-third of their board members as independent directors. So, for instance, if an affected public company has 18 members on its board, six (6) of them are required by the amendment to be independent directors. Under the old law, it would have been three (3). The impact of 275 (1) & (2) of CAMA (as amended) is that some public companies may need to replace Non-Executive Directors or Executive Directors on its board with independent directors to maintain the threshold of one-third of the board members provided by the new section 275 of CAMA. Some boards of public companies may lose policy control of their companies.