The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday said it would compel all companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange to pay shareholders their accumulated unclaimed dividends running into N80bn.
The Director-General, SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, said this in Abuja at a sensitisation programme on unclaimed dividends.
He said the commission was involved in the electronic dividend awareness campaign because the issue of unclaimed dividend was affecting the level of confidence that investors had in the stock market.
Gwarzo stated that inasmuch as the issue of unclaimed dividend was affecting investors’ confidence in the market, the commission would ensure that this became a thing of the past.
He said the need to reduce the level of unclaimed dividend was what prompted the commission to adopt it in the 10-year capital market master plan.
The SEC boss said, “Unclaimed dividend came about from the dividends of small-scale shareholders like you and me such as dividend of N2,000 or N5,000. So, it is the accumulation of these small dividends that gave rise to that N80bn. We will make sure this unclaimed dividend issue becomes a thing of the past.
“Once we are able to get through with the electronic registration and electronic dividend, we will also compel the registrars and companies that those dividend that are less than 12 years, they should be able to check that and the addresses of the people and certify from their identification so that the true owners of these dividends are paid.”
The SEC boss called on all shareholders of quoted companies in the country to take advantage of the three-month free electronic registration period to visit their registrars and update their records.
This, according to him, is a vital condition for the payment of unclaimed dividends.
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