According to the Nigeria Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Unclaimed shares dividends increased from N109.1 billion in December 2016 to N130 billion in December 2019 (SEC, 2020).
Many shareholders are yet to enroll for E-Dividend payment, the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) has set up a portal where investors can search if they or their loved ones have unclaimed dividends, just follow these steps to claim your dividend.
Step 1: Input your first name and last name into this link http://sec.gov.ng/non-mandated/ to get a list of your shares from SEC. This will give you a screenshot of all the companies you have shares in, and the registrars in charge.
Note: if you have changed your name due to marriage or other reasons, search with your previous name and also try different format of name e.g those with prefixes e.g ‘Olu’, ‘Oluwa’ etc
Step 2: Take note of your registrar’s name. A registrar is the company that keeps the shareholder’s details for other companies. So, your shares could have data with different registrars.
Step 3: Download and fill your registrar’s form which is beside the company’s name on the website.
Step 4: Submit your form. Some companies require you to go to your bank and get a bankers confirmation, so they can initiate the e-dividend form for you.
Once this is done, your account will be credited automatically with the e-dividend going forward.
