By Dipo Olowookere
Investors who fail to register for the e-dividend payment system before December 31, 2017, will have to cough out N150 to enrol for the exercise from Monday, January 1, 2018.
This information was revealed by the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mounir Gwarzo, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting held last week.
The DG warned that the agency will not extend the exercise beyond this year.
Mr Gwarzo lamented that the level of compliance has dropped, especially last month, and urged investors to quickly take advantage of the window now to enrol for the e-dividend payment system.
According to him, “We realised that there is a slow pace in terms of the implementation of the e-dividend as in the last three-four months, there has not been appreciable increase in terms of number of people registering.
“By December 31, 2017, any Nigerian that does not register for e-dividend will now have to pay N150 for registration.
“We have been pursuing this initiative since last year and SEC has been underwriting the cost. The moment you start extending, people will think they have 100 years to do it.
“I don’t think we should keep on extending it, we want to keep our word on that December 31, 2017. Whoever that does not register should be able to pay the amount stipulated.”
The Director-General implored the media and all stakeholders to help drive the sensitization process of the e-dividend registration exercise.
