By Stanley Opara

Monday, 24 Jan 2011

Stakeholders in the financial sector have said that with the resolve shown by the National Assembly in fast tracking the passage of the Equipment Leasing Bill, the Senate will soon pass and transmit the bill to the Presidency to be signed into law.

They are, also optimistic that before the end of the present administration’s term of office, the bill will get the President’s assent.

A statement from the Equipment Leasing Association of Nigeria on Friday, revealed that the National Assembly had renewed its effort to ensure that the business of equipment leasing was practised and regulated in line with internationally recognised standards by allowing the bill to sail through first reading at the Senate.

This development, according to it, is coming just months after the House of Representative passed and transmitted the bill to the Upper House for endorsement.

According to the Chairman, ELAN, Mr. Kehinde Lawanson, a majority of stakeholders in the leasing industry, are optimistic that when enacted, the bill will, among other things, establish a regulatory authority, provide for the registration of all equipment leased and the certification of equipment lessors.

These, he explained, would promote trust between equipment owners and users by identifying and protecting business relationships between the lessor, lessee and other third parties.

“The stakeholders were unanimous in their position that the enactment of the leasing law will lead to numerous benefits, including easier ways for small and medium enterprises to acquire productive assets for growth and job creation,” the ELAN boss added.

Additional benefits of the expected leasing law, Lawanson noted, were to ensure a well-regulated financial sector, increased investment, and an expanded tax revenue base for the government at all levels.

He also expressed ELAN’s immense gratitude to the Senate leadership for their tireless efforts to ensure smooth passage of the bill, noting that the bill was not controversial and that it had been passed by the Senate in the last administration.

The ELAN boss explained that since 1996, over N1.6tn in equipment leasing transactions had been completed, with more than 83 per cent of them (that is N1.3tn), done in the last five years alone.

He pointed that leasing had also touched ordinary Nigerians through the manufacturing, telecommunications, agriculture, transport and government sectors, adding that, “ The value of leasing into these sectors skyrocketed from N11bn in 2002 to N445bn in 2009, increasing their share of the leasing market from less than 25 per cent to more than 75 per cent in the seven years.”

According to him, currently more than 15,000 businesses, the vast majority of which are small and medium size firms, had enjoyed the benefits of lease financing and over ten million Nigerian jobs had been created or supported through leasing.

“The leasing industry is attracting foreign investment to Nigeria. Despite these remarkable achievements and contributions, the Nigeria leasing industry has no specific regulatory framework or a clearly defined leasing law to define its parameters of operation,” he noted.

Source: Punch