Shareholder Access to Place of Meeting under Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990: e-Meeting in Prospect

Abstract

The right of shareholders to participate at the AGM depends on whether the place of meeting specified in the notice will be convenient for the shareholders to attend and exercise their voting right. The Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 (CAMA 1990) provides that the place for holding all classes of meeting shall be in Nigeria. However, considering that share ownership in Nigeria is widely dispersed across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja it is difficult to have a place of meeting that will be suitably accessible for all the shareholders to attend. This calls for an examination of relevant law, code of corporate governance and other rules relating to shareholder access to the place of meeting in Nigeria with a view to introduce ways that will facilitate greater participation of shareholders to the place of meeting. Two methods of data collection were adopted. First is the doctrinal which was conducted in the library while the second method involved field work (qualitative interview). The findings indicate the need for CAMA 1990 to include provision that will facilitate rotation of the place of annual general meeting (AGM) across various states of Nigeria.  Similarly, there is need to incorporate provision that will facilitate holding electronic meeting (e-meeting). This will facilitate shareholder access to the place of meeting without difficulty in terms of geographical access to the place of meeting as shareholders can participate from any part of the world.