ICSAN seeks stakeholders’ integrity in management of unclaimed fund

The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has urged relevant stakeholders involved in the management of the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund (UFTF) to discharge their responsibilities professionally, ethically, and with integrity.
   
Registrar, ICSAN, Taiwo Olusesi, who stated this via a communique by the institute, said there must be proper channels that are well set out and made known to the public for investors to claim their dividends once it entered into the government coffers, and notices are given to concerned investors on recouping their investments.

She said the stakeholders must provide feedback to the government through various channels on the outcomes and practical challenges of implementing the fund.
 
She urged that shareholders should be educated on the various mechanisms, such as Security Exchange Commission’s e-dividend portal to verify the existence of any unclaimed dividends and how the same could be recovered before such funds are due to be transferred to the UFTF.

According to her, those implementing the UFTF should develop a robust database readily accessible by the public and provide periodic reports on the utilisation of the UFTF funds to increase investors’ confidence.

Noting that there was also the need for the proper education of many stakeholders on the procedure for the recovery of unclaimed assets under the Finance Act 2020, Olusesi also said a detailed implementation plan for the utilisation of the funds must be made public and key performance indicators must be published, to enable the public to assess the performance of the fund from time to time.
 
She said the advice was pertinent to address the problems of distrust between investors, depositors and the government.

According to her, maintaining investors’ confidence and allaying their doubts and fears is very paramount, “Hence, the relevant government bodies should engage the investing public more regularly and obtain their feedback on improving the debt funding system and the utilisation of the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund (UFTF),” she said.