ICSAN set to address controversial provisions on unclaimed dividends

It cited the provisions as those in Section 124 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 and Section 13 of the Companies Regulation 2021 on unclaimed dividends.

Mrs Abiola Laseinde, Chairperson, Corporate Members Committee, ICSAN said  at a news conference  on Friday in Lagos said the controversies would be treated at the institute’s annual Company Secretaries and Registrars Forum.

Laseinde said the forum, billed to host seasoned technocrats and skilled professionals, would stimulate the interest of members working as corporate professionals in the formal sector.

She said that it would  ensure their positive contribution to both the Institute’s and national affairs.

Laseinde said that the forum offered a platform for exposing participants to modern day practices and practical solution to problems on company secretarial practices, the capital market and related issues.

She assured stakeholders and beneficiaries of the dividends on the institute’s plan to engage the government by proffering solutions that would engender the review of some of the provisions of CAMA 2020.

“This year’s forum scheduled for March 4, 2021 is themed:” Managing Unclaimed Dividends and Unutilised funds in Dormant Bank Accounts: Issues, Options & Way out”.

“It is not the best time for government to take drastic decisions capable of aggravating the plight of people especially those who have labored and deserve their rewards.

“Those wealth belongs to the investors and their beneficiaries, it’s their money and we expect the government to work together with the Organized Private Sector to eliminate the bottlenecks in the whole process of accessing the dividends.

“The CAMA Act, Finance Act and all others are all good but there are certain contents that secretaries and members need to familiarize themselves with so that they are able to rightly influence and inform the organisation and clients which they represent.

“To this, ICSAN’s open courses are specifically designed for company secretaries and directors,  compliance managers, risk managers and governance advisors among others,” she said.

Laseinde also urged fresh graduates to take advantage of the Institute’s Graduate Internship Scheme.

She said that the platform provided fresh graduates the opportunity to acquire hands-on experience in corporate governance, compliance, share registration and company secretarial practice in reputable organisations in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 124 (1-3) of CAMA 2020 provides that:

(I) Where, after the commencement of this Act, a memorandum delivered to the Commission under section 36 states that the association to be registered is to be registered with shares, the amount of the share capital stated in the memorandum to be registered shall not be less than the minimum issued share capital.

(II) No company having a share capital shall, after the commencement of this Act, be registered with a share capital less than the minimum issued share capital.

(III) Where, at the commencement of this Act, the issued share capital of an existing company is less than the minimum issued share capital, the company shall, not later than six months after the commencement of this Act, issue shares to an amount not less than the minimum issued share capital.

Section 13 (1-3) of the CAC Companies Regulations 2021 provides thus:

(I) Where, at the commencement of the Act, a company has unissued shares in its capital, the company shall not later than 30th June 2021 fully issue such shares.

(II) Notice of issue delivered to the Commission for registration shall be exempted from payment of filing fees.

(III) Where a company to which this regulation applies fails to comply with this regulation, the company and every officer of the company shall be liable to a daily default penalty as prescribed by the Commission. (NAN)