The President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Babatunde Ruwase, has bemoaned issuance of conflicting regulatory rules by various regulatory agencies, thus leading to increased burden on businesses, higher cost of operation, waste of executive time and reputational consequences in 2018.
Presenting the scorecard of his leadership at the 130th annual general meeting of the chamber in Lagos, Ruwase said the regulatory environment was a major source of distraction for many corporate organisations during the outgoing year.
“It also adversely impacted the confidence of investors. These also manifested in form of arbitrary fines and charges, sanctions and frequent summons of corporate executives by the National Assembly.
“We believe that government still has the enormous task of fostering an environment where entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises, can thrive better, sound and result-oriented business regulations are critical for private sector development,” he said.
Ruwase explained that in 2018, businesses experienced frequent incidences of regulatory challenges, leading to increased burden on businesses, higher cost of operation, waste of executive time and reputational consequences.
He said that despite all the challenges, the economy was able to maintain a positive growth trajectory driven by the recovery of oil price for most part of the year.
In another development, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called on more Nigerians to take advantage of the ongoing e-dividend registration in a bid to reduce the unclaimed dividends profile, as well as increase liquidity in the capital market and the economy.
Acting Director General of SEC, Mary Uduk, said this at an enlightenment programme on e-dividend and contemporary issues in the Nigerian Capital Market held in Enugu, a statement from SEC confirmed.
The event, which had the theme: “Current Initiatives by the Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria to Enhance Investor Value”, drew participants from various segments of the society.
Represented by the Head, Port Harcourt Zonal Office of SEC, Mr. Obi Adindu, Uduk disclosed that the commission was currently leading the entire capital market industry in an effort to migrate all shareholders to an e-dividend regime.
“The essence of the e-dividend Mandate Management System is to eradicate or reduce to the barest minimum the incidences of unclaimed dividends.
“Unclaimed dividend is an undesirable feature of the Nigerian capital market which denies investors/shareholders the gains of participating in the capital market. It denies the economy access to the huge amount of money which should have accrued to shareholders and would have gone into circulation to oil the wheel of the economy.”
She further said the E-Dividend regime bypasses these limitations by ensuring that dividends which do not exceed 12 years of issue are credited directly to an investors account after declaration by the paying company and within a stipulated payment period through simple interbank transfer.