By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called for the removal of the 12-year Statute of Limitation on Unclaimed Dividends.
This, according to the commission, will enable shareholders claim their dividends in perpetuity.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by spokesman of SEC, Mr Naif Abdussalam, the agency said instead, a Trust Fund as a corporate body should be established with a Board of Trustees, which will administer unclaimed dividends, while the Fund should be managed by an independent manager.
SEC said, “Upon establishment of the Fund, the Minister of Finance shall issue a directive for all forfeited unclaimed dividends domiciled with the companies and all subsequent unclaimed dividends, 15 months and above to be paid into the fund.
“It shall be the responsibility of the Securities and Exchange Commission to enforce this directive.”
According to the agency, this will help in addressing the current lacuna on unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian Capital Market.
It pointed out that this submission was based on the report of a committee set up in 2016 to review the issue which had been passed to the Senate Committee on Capital Market.
The submission, made at a Senate committee’s public hearing on the market, advocated that members of the board should be selected from the capital market with representation from some institutions.
The institutions include the Federal Ministry of Finance, SEC, Institute of Capital Market Registrars, shareholders association recognised by the commission and Nigerian Employees Consultative Association.
Available data estimates that the quantum of unclaimed dividends has grown almost 13 fold, between 2005 and end of 2012.
About 57 percent of the unclaimed monies belonged to small, retail and other low net worth investors.
To mitigate the situation, SEC had in September 2015 issued a directive to all Registrars of Companies to return 90 per cent of unclaimed dividends in their custody for a period of 15 months and above to investors.
Other institutions which made submissions at the forum included the Corporate Affairs Commission, Institute of Capital Market Registrars, The Nigerian Stock Exchange and Shareholders Associations.
