FG To Amass Unclaimed Dividends, Funds In Dormant Bank Accounts

The federal government may have concluded plans to acquire unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant bank accounts as stipulated by the Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Act recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Act reads in part: “Any unclaimed dividend of a public limited liability company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and any unutilised amounts in a dormant bank account maintained in or by a deposit money bank which has remained unclaimed or unutilised for a period of not less than six years from the date of declaring the dividend or domiciling the funds in a bank account shall be transferred immediately to the [Unclaimed Funds] trust fund.”

The monies transferred to the Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund will be a “special debt owed by the federal government to shareholders and dormant bank account holders.”

The Act also stipulates that owners can claim their funds any time.

Read also: NNPC Will Declare Dividends In 2020 In Spite Of COVID-19 – Kyari

However, bank accounts owned by the federal government, state government or local governments or any of their MDAs are exempted from the acquisitions.

Before the bill was passed, it raised concerns with lawmakers and trade unions such as Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria and the Association of Securities Dealing Houses, who kicked against the government’s plan to acquire the funds, as it is contrary to constitutional provisions to one’s rights to own property.

Eko Hot Blog recalls that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, during a webinar highlighting the 2020 Finance Bill in November, had explained that the funds would be owed as a perpetual debt to shareholders.

Ahmed said the operation of the trust fund will be supervised by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The Securities and Exchange Commission said the value of unclaimed dividends was pegged at ₦158.4 billion at the end of 2019 and was projected to hit ₦200 billion by the end of 2020.