"N90billion dividends unclaimed by investors" - SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday in Abuja said that there was N90 billion unclaimed dividends at the end of September, 2015.

The head, marketing development, SEC, Henry Adekunle made this known during a Sensitisation Road Show by the commission on E-Divided Registration.

Mr. Adekunle said the essence of the three-day sensitisation walk was to encourage investors to provide necessary information to enable them to claim their dividends electronically.

According to Mr. Adekunle, “E- dividend means electronic dividend, which is the profit an investor gets from the company which he has invested his money.

“All we are saying here is that our investors should go and register to collect your dividend electronically in their preferred bank.

“All that we expect from an investor is to go to the bank and fill a form, which will contain certain information.

“You will be required to give certain information like your passport, account number whether savings or current and then your BVN.

“Your Central Securities Clearing System number will be required if you are already dematerialised.


“But if you are not, you will go with your share certificate number after which you will be validated using the Nigeria Inter – Bank Settlement System portal where the e – dividend form is actually located,’’ Mr. Adekunle said.

He said after a successful validation, the completed forms would be sent to the registrars of the various companies, who would consolidate all the investors’ dividends and commence payment accordingly.

Mr. Adekunle said, “the objective of this initiative is to make sure that the N90 billion unclaimed dividend is depleted within the next six months after the completion of this exercise.

“The exercise will be free for about three months and close in March. Six months from that date, we expect that this N90 billion would have fully depleted.’’

He said the exercise would continue afterward but investors would be required to pay N100 which was not subject to review.

He said, “the investor does not need to bother because they will just debit your account and you will not even know you are paying anything”.

Mr. Adekunle said the fee was necessary for the maintenance of the portal and for bank administrative processing charges.

He said once an investor was successfully validated electronically, the investor did not need to bother to do any other form of validation afterward.

He said the exercise, when fully implemented, would aid the Direct Cash Settlement regime, increase market velocity and attract foreign investors.

The head, corporate communication of SEC, Naif Abdussalam, said the exercise was part of the commission’s implementation strategy for the 10-year capital market master plan.

The road show was attended by staff members of SEC.

The procession stopped at the Wuse Market, Berger and Banex Junction, Utako Market, and various other offices around Wuse in the FCT.