Mr Lamido Yuguda, Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), says proper identity management will address the problem of unclaimed dividends in the nation’s capital market.
Yuguda said this on Tuesday in Abuja while presenting the commission’s 2022 budget before the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Markets and Institutiions.
He said that the commission was engaging relevant stakeholders in a bid to resolve issues of identity management to tackle the problem of unclaimed dividends.
Yuguda pointed out that part of the problem of unclaimed dividends had to do with identity management.
According to him, the commission is currently engaging stakeholders and increasing investors’ education to stem the trend.
Yuguda described identity theft as a fraudulent practice of using another person’s name and personal information to obtain shares, credit and loans, among others.
The director- general said that the commission had set up an identity management committee to harmonise various databases of investors and facilitate data accuracy in the market.
He said the committee comprises the SEC, the registrars, the stockbrokers, the issuing houses, the CSCS, and NGX, in addition to the e-dividend management committee.
Yuguda said the committee’s assignment would address the challenge of identity management and help tackle some of the issues of unclaimed dividends, direct cash settlement and multiple subscriptions.
“We have engaged with the industry to see where the issues are.
“We now understand the problem better and we are working in collaboration with them to ensure that by the end of the first half of 2022, we will be able to report back to this house some of the milestones achieved in solving some of these issues and we believe it will have a massive impact.
“We need to transform our information technology infrastructure as we superintend over a market that is vast and technology -driven.
“The steering committee has started work and we are already looking at the proposals,” he said.
Yuguda also said SEC had been collaborating with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria to develop standards for commodities.
He noted that the commission had already held two workshops in Lagos and Kano with the aim of making the nation’s agricultural commodities acceptable world over as well as create wealth for the country.
The director-general added that the commission had recently approved the first electronic offer in the capital market for MTN.
“Before now, there were rules on electronic offers developed by SEC but they are only being used now with the MTN offer.
“The commission does not rely on the Federal Government for funding as it is self-funding,” he said.
He said that the downturn in the capital market due to the COVID-19 pandemic had adversely affected the revenue of the commission.
“The budget of 2021 has been a huge departure from the past, as we have worked on new sources of income and reduced our expenditure.
“With these efforts, we know that we will have a commission that everyone will be proud of,” he added.
Also speaking, Chairman of the committee, Rep. Babangida Ibrahim, commended the commission on its efforts so far in regulating the market.
Ibrahim assured the commission that the committee would continue to provide support where necessary to ensure that the nation had a vibrant capital market.
“It is our responsibility to oversee activities of SEC and that is why we invited them here today to brief us on the performance of their 2021 budget, including the success and challenges they have faced in the year under review.
“We will continue to engage with the commission to attain the progress we desire for our capital market,” he said. (NAN)
