…Tasks CBN, SEC on N52.2bn unclaimed dividends
Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish an Unclaimed Dividend Trust Fund as a means to addressing the problem of unclaimed dividends which presently estimated at N52.2 billion, even as it posited that legalizing illegal refineries would boost local supply capacity of petroleum products, reduce prices and create jobs.

Briefing the press on the state of the economy in Lagos, the Association also called on the Federal Government to make illegal refineries to become legal instead of destroying them. “The establishment of an Unclaimed Dividend Trust Fund with appropriate legal law to cure the present defects by making it possible for shareholders to recover their dividends however long this may take. This will make it mandatory for companies to hand over unclaimed dividends to SEC for onward transfer into the Fund,” said NACCIMA President, Dr. Ademola Ajayi.

“Unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian capital market now stands at N52.2 billion as at December 31, 2011. We are worried that the rising wave of unclaimed dividends in the nation’s capital market may become another thorny issue that seems to have defied all solutions despite the aggressive drive by the regulators to ensure that dividends payout by companies are received by investors promptly.

The apex bank, he said, should therefore prevail on banks in the country to accept payment of dividend warrant into savings accounts. “The refusal of banks to allow investors to pay their dividend warrants into savings account (mostly operated by low income investors) is partly responsible for the growing incidence of unclaimed dividends in the country.


Destroyed illegal refineries.
“Presently, Nigerians are not properly educated on what happens to their unclaimed dividends while accounts of failed banks with unclaimed dividends are also not known. To compound this problem, most dividend warrants received by Nigerians (i.e. shareholders) get to them after it has been stalled, making it uncollectable. The D-G, SEC has attributed the reason for the accumulation of unclaimed dividends to ignorance or when shareholders change their forwarding addresses without informing the companies’ registrars thus, failing to receive the dividend warrants.

“While we appreciate SEC’s efforts at ensuring reduction in the amount of unclaimed dividends, we believe that other major factors responsible for unclaimed dividends included shareholders who died intestate and without information on next of kin, multiple applications by applicants during the investment process, deliberate actions to deny investors their benefit through various unethical schemes by some registrars and companies who lack liquidity to pay and loss of dividend warrants following poor postal system.

“To put an end to this unclaimed dividend “palaver”, we canvass as follows: SEC should intensify efforts at sensitization of the public and corporate organisations on the need to provide current postal addresses and make prompt payment of dividends to shareholders; Shareholders should be encouraged to subscribe to or embrace the e-dividend payment solution, which all the registrars of companies have put in place.

“Regarding illegal refineries, he said: “NACCIMA believes if these illegal refineries are made legal and is effectively done, it would boost local supply capacity of petroleum products, create jobs and invariably may also reduce prices when competition fully takes its course.

“We have watched with dismay the continuous destruction of small refineries classified by Government as illegal in the country. We believe that the action of Government/Ministry of Petroleum Resource is not the best given the current problem confronting the country in the petroleum sector; as it would further compound the sector’s supply chain of petroleum products. To ensure strict compliance and standards with the laid down criteria by the operators of the small (but now legal) refineries, there is need for the Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR) to assume effective supervisory role,” he said.


VANGUARD
http://www.?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FJJHnGi&h=OAQH1_LF1AQEjJDifUIQ9FZcM3fjgxLJ-YDIKHuT8Fto5Yw

“Regarding illegal refineries, he said: “NACCIMA believes if these illegal refineries are made legal and is effectively done, it would boost local supply capacity of petroleum products, create jobs and invariably may also reduce prices when competition fully takes its course.

“We have watched with dismay the continuous destruction of small refineries classified by Government as illegal in the country. We believe that the action of Government/Ministry of Petroleum Resource is not the best given the current problem confronting the country in the petroleum sector; as it would further compound the sector’s supply chain of petroleum products. To ensure strict compliance and standards with the laid down criteria by the operators of the small (but now legal) refineries, there is need for the Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR) to assume effective supervisory role,” he said.

This is what I have been crying out for. Those boys have shown that building a refinery is not rocket science; that it can be done right here without foreign help, even in the most constrained swamp settings. There is no greater proof of the fact that it is the Nigerian system that kills the innovative spirit that can set this country ablaze with development, techology, wealth and happiness.

It is time to legalise these outfits and rename them "micro-refineries." What the FG should do, is provide regulatory frameworks for environmental protection, product quality, growth incentives etc.

We cannot continue to be jonsing jones in this country.

God bless you Beaf. You just took the words outa my mouth.

^

+1000

i fully concur with the legalization, in fact making them legal and forming them into associations will effectively minimize bunkering and other illegal activities and provide jobs for d people and revenue for d government. it is a potential win-win situation.