Seasoned technocrats and skilled professionals, are expected to stimulate the interest of participants at this year’s Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria,ICSAN, annual Company Secretaries and Registrars Forum.

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

The forum is set to address controversies surrounding some provisions on unclaimed dividends, including those in Section 124 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 and Section 13 of the Companies Regulation 2021 on unclaimed dividends.

L-R Mrs. Abiola Laseinde , FCIS (Chairperson of the Corporate Members Committee) , Mrs. Lynda Onefeli , FCIS (Chairperson of the Publicity and Advocacy Committee) and Mr. Kayode Ketefe , FCIS (Head of Research) all of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) during a recent media briefing at the National Secretariat of the Institute at Alausa in Ikeja-Lagos .

ICSAN Chairperson, Corporate Members Committee, Abiola Laseinde, assured stakeholders and beneficiaries of the dividends on the institute’s plan to engage the government by profering solutions that would engender the review of some of the provisions.

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

Laseinde said 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 profering solutions that would engender the review of some of the provisions of CAMA 2020.

In her words, it is not the best time for the government to take drastic decisions capable of aggravating the plight of people especially those who have labored and deserve their rewards.

According to her, those wealth belongs to the investors and their beneficiaries, it’s their money and we expect the government to work together with the Organised 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 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.

According to Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria,ICSAN, 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.