Canuk to hold virtual emergency general meeting on August 31 to review its status

DIASPORA umbrella body the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (Canuk) will be holding an online emergency general meeting (EGM) on Saturday August 31 to review its constitution and consider acquiring charitable status.

At Canuk's recent AGM which took place aboard the MV Sapphire on Saturday June 8, about 150 delegates met for six hours to deliberate on the challenges facing the Nigerian community in the UK. At the event, Canuk's legal adviser Kayode Okenla, presented a case for the association becoming a community interest company to delegates.

After deliberating the matter, delegates asked for more time to consider the proposals, so it was agreed by consensus that an EGM would be held before the end of July. However, logistics have prevented this, as Canuk['s legal committee needs to review the constitution in detail, make the changes and then submit its proposals to the executive committee for approval before they can be passed unto the mass membership for ratification.

As a result, Canuk's executive committee has moved the EGM date to August 31, where the revised constitution and the new status will be presented to delegates. Being an online summit, the EGM will not involve anyone meeting physically and all voting, if need be, will be done online.

Mr Okenla said: "As an executive committee, we have looked at the numerous options available and decided that a CIC is the best option to proceed with. It will allow us to register Canuk with Companies House, which should be helpful when it comes to fundraising and seeking grants.

"One of the beauties of a CIC is that it is very easy to register, also, you do not need to look for trustees as is the case with other forms of charitable status. After registering, the executive committee can continue running the affairs of Canuk, ruling out the need for multiple layers of management."

Canuk chairman Ayo Akinfe, added: Mr Akinfe said: "Our delegates will convene online discuss the matter of Canuk's status. Past executive committees have tried very hard to resolve this matter but have always tended to run out of time but hopefully, we will resolve the matter once and for all on August 31."

Canuk's current constitution was amended on May 4 2020 and since then, there has been no major review of the document. In what will be the first major upgrade since, letters have already been sent out to member organisations asking them to submit their proposals to the Canuk secretariat before August 4.

Abidemi Bada, Canuk's general secretary, added: "We have written to all Canuk member organisations and asked them to send in their responses to us by August 4 to info@canukonline.com. Then, collation and review of the responses by the legal committee will take place between August 5 and 16 and Canuk's executive committee will then review the legal committee report between August 16 and 18."

Flora Njoku, Canuk's vice chair, associations, who is responsible for the member organisations, pointed out that circulation of the final draft documents and the EGM notice of meeting will be out to members on August 19. She added that this should allow the EGM to hold on August 31 2024 without any hiccups.