The Nigerian Senate is set to sanitize the Nigeria’s Capital Market, with focus on resolving the protracted ‘unclaimed dividend funds’.
As a result, the Senate Committee on Capital Market on Monday held a one-day public hearing on ‘Unclaimed Dividend Funds’, with stakeholders in the stock exchange market in attendance.
The declaring the public hearing opened, the Senate President, Dr. Godswill Akpabio, said the unclaimed dividends is tantamount to loss of trust in Nigeria’s capital market, adding that it can also slow down the nation’s economy.
Senator Akpabio, represented by Senator Binos Yaroe, said Nigeria cannot afford to let this continue, “We must rise to the challenge, confront the complexities, and find bold solutions that will restore faith in our financial systems and empower our investors.
“We stand on a crossroads, where the choices we make’ll shape the destiny of our capital market and the future of our nation.
“We have witnessed the exponential growth of unclaimed dividends, a reflection of the systemic issues that have plagued our financial sector for far too long.
Acknowledging the potential in the sector, the Senate President said, “Nigeria endowed with vast resources and a resilient spirit, has the capacity to become a beacon of economic prosperity and opportunity.
“We have the power to transform our capital market into a vibrant hub of investment, innovation and wealth creation.
In his remarks, the Committee Chairman, Senator Osita Izunaso, harped on unclaimed dividends fund, lamenting that the issue of the fund has persisted for a long time due to several factors.
While alluding to the era of capturing subscriber information on paper dividend warrants as one of the factors, Senator Izunaso stated that the ongoing reforms of the electronic dividend portal overseen by the electronic dividend mandate committee and NIBSS will address the issue of lingering unclaimed dividends fund.
“Despite these efforts, we continue to grapple with significant volumes of unclaimed dividends, even within companies like MTN Nigeria, which underwent a digital offering with extensive documentation”, he said
