By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan
Nigeria has a deluge of unclaimed Dividends estimated to be in excess of N200 billions.

The locked up funds might keep growing and serve little or no economic gains if you and I continue to leave dividends unredeemed, perhaps unknowingly.

But what does a dividend really mean?
A dividend is a reward a company shareholder gets from a portion of the company ‘s net profit, and the reward can either be in the form of cash payments or bonus shares. Shareholders in this case could be your parents, relatives, or anyone who bought shares of any listed company.

For instance, if you bought 10 units of Dangote Cement shares and the company and the company decides to reward shareholders for the financial year with a cash dividend payment of N20 per share, it means you are entitled to N200 plus the existing 10 units.

But if the company rewards with bonus shares sharehuin this case could be you, your relatives, parents or anyone who bought shares of any listed company.

But if the company rewards with bonus shares of 1 unit for every 5 held, you would get additional 2 shares to bring your holding In Dangote Cement to 12 units.

Now that you are aware, you can halt your losses, claim your unclaimed Dividends by following these 6 simple steps:
1. Consult your stockbroker to check first and foremost if you have unclaimed Dividends. You could also check by visiting the website of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

2. Know your registrar (s)

Registrars are mandated to manage all issues related to shareholders on behalf of companies. These issues include dividends, public offers and share certificates.

3. Sign. A share transfer form.
Now that you know your registrar, you can proceed to obtaining a share transfer form from your stockbroker.
The form mandates the stockbroker to process your unpaid dividends with a fee. Concerned about the fee, you could contact your registrar instead.

4. Process your e-dividend registration
It is also important to process your e-dividend registration and get it sorted out once and for all. Once you identify your registrars, go to your website through the SEC website to download their e-dividend mandate forms and fill it out with the right information.

5. Visit your bank
Next, in the steps to claim your unclaimed dividends is to take a completed and signed copy of the e-dividend mandate forms to your bank. It is advised to use a bank instead of multiple banks for ease of monitoring of dividend payments.

6. Return signed e-dividend mandate forms to your stockbroker
You can now return the e-dividend mandate form which has been duly signed to your registrar to complete the process on your behalf.