The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated that the unclaimed dividends in Nigerias capital market stands at N190 billion.

This is even as the commission reiterated that it is working with Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) on the e-dividend portal currently going through upgrading and data repairs.

Director-General, SEC, Lamido Yuguda, disclosed this during the commissions second Capital Market Committee (CMC) briefing which was monitored by Daily Sun via Zoom on Friday in Lagos.

The Capital Market Committee (CMC) was mainly established to serve as a medium for exchange of ideas among market stakeholders as well as for feedback to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on how to continuously improve the market activities and regulation.

Yuguda, whilst stating that unclaimed dividends is still a recurring problem in the market, explained that the SEC is currently facing challenges such as identity management, multiple subscriptions which is aggravating the number of unclaimed dividends. According to him, the estimated figure of unclaimed dividends so far in the market stands at N190 billion.

He added that the SEC Is working with NIBSS to make changes to the electronic dividend portal which is currently going through some form of upgrading and repair. We are working very hard to ensure we reduce the number of unclaimed dividends and this is why we are upgrading the e-dividend portal with NIBSS to restore investors dividend and reduce unclaimed dividends and we reiterate that Every person, who has come to the capital market and invested money, should be able to get his dividends as and when due.

Also speaking, the Commissioner, Operations at SEC, Dayo Obisan, said that one of the major issues bedeviling the commission is beneficiaries getting access to claim their dividends.

We keep putting our efforts to ensure that investors update their bank details, information and claim their dividends. But we still have some of them who fill in details wrongly. We at SEC are working very hard and we want to ensure bonuses get transferred to beneficiaries, capture everyone who is in the market so that our data is more robust and we can be able to work effectively on reducing unclaimed dividends.

Speaking on the progress of the markets revised capital market master plan (RCMMP), Yuguda noted that although the RCMMP is a 10-year plan, it has achieved a lot in the capital market as SEC has strengthened their regulations and has achieved a lot in the year.

He mentioned that one of the issues has always been robust technology and revealed that the commission is working on launching its new state-of-the-art technology infrastructure in 2024.

Yuguda thereafter reiterated that the capital market is well positioned to meet the needs of the government and called on the FG to harness the capital market in order to fund major infrastructures in the country. (Daily Sun)