By Peter Egwuatu
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has commenced a nationwide enlightenment campaign to help Nigerians recover unclaimed dividends and other monies arising from capital market transactions.
The campaign, which began with a town hall meeting in Lagos yesterday, is aimed at sensitising investors on the existence of unclaimed monies, the role of the National Investor Protection Fund (NIPF) and the procedures for verifying and recovering legitimate claims.
The SEC Director-General, Emomotimi Agama, who was represented at the event by Director, Registration and Exchanges, Market Infrastructure Department, Hafsat Rufai, said the initiative was necessary to ensure that funds belonging to investors were returned to their rightful owners.
Agama said unclaimed monies administered by NIPF included return monies from public offers, scheme consideration from mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring transactions, as well as other funds belonging to investors that had remained unclaimed.
He noted that the Commission considered it unacceptable for investors’ funds to remain unclaimed, adding that many investors and their families were either unaware that such monies existed or did not know the procedures for recovering them.
“The Commission considers this situation unacceptable. Funds belonging to investors should ultimately find their way back to their rightful owners,” he said.
Agama said the SEC Board had approved a nationwide public enlightenment campaign to sensitise Nigerians on unclaimed monies, the role of NIPF and the process for making legitimate claims.
He said the Lagos programme marked the commencement of the outreach, which would subsequently cover the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory.
