The Unclaimed Dividends Committee inaugurated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has put the figure of unclaimed dividends at N45 billion.
The Committee’s figures contrasted sharply with SEC’s earlier announcement which pegged the unclaimed dividends profile at N60 billion.
The committee, headed by Mr Kyari Bukar, managing director, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), had submitted its report to SEC.
Other members of the committee are: Mr Bayo Olugbemi, managing director, First Registrars; Dr David Ogogo, executive secretary of the Chartered Institute of Registrars, and Mr Dipo Aina, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.
Sources close to the committee and SEC said yesterday that the unclaimed dividends in the nation’s bourse reached N45 billion or 4.58 per cent of the total dividends declared as at June 30, 2013.
SEC had earlier announced that the unclaimed dividends hit N60 billion in 2012, against the N42 billion recorded in 2011.
Unclaimed dividends represent the monetary value of (profit) pay-outs by quoted companies, which have not been claimed or received by shareholders.
The sources, who pleaded anonymity, said that the disparity in the figures was due to improper understanding and calculation of the unclaimed dividends.
They argued that dividends can only be termed unclaimed 15 months after the payment date, stressing that SEC based their computation on six months after payment.
The sources said that the committee also recommended the aggressive implementation of the e-dividend policy, investor education on electronic dividends payment, electronic share transactions and an efficient postal system.
The committee also recommended a strong collaboration between SEC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the acceptance of dividend warrants into savings accounts.
SEC had at its third quarter Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting in September 2013, inaugurated a market-wide committee to study and make recommendation on how to eliminate the increasing value of unclaimed dividends.
The committee was also directed to look into the causes of unclaimed dividends and the actual figure of unclaimed dividends in the market.
The other mandate of the committee included the proper definition of unclaimed dividends and what could be done to address the problems in the market.