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For existing shareholders
Dividends you were due but never received are still yours. Check the SEC's free search by name, then claim from the company's registrar with ID and a bank account in your own name. If you no longer know which companies you hold, find the shares first.
A dividend declared but never paid to you is not forfeited when it moves to the Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund.
The SEC's search lists accounts with no e-dividend mandate, by name, company and registrar.
Each company’s registrar pays its dividends into a bank account in your own name.
The SEC estimated unclaimed dividends at about ₦270 billion in total when it launched a national campaign to help investors recover them in July 2026, as reported by Nairametrics and Daily Trust.
The SEC runs a free Non-Mandated Dividends Search at eportal.sec.gov.ng/non-mandated. There is no login and no fee. You type a name and it lists shareholder accounts that have no e-dividend mandate, which are accounts whose dividends could not be paid electronically. Each result shows the account number, the shareholder's name, the company and the registrar.
The list covers only accounts without a mandate. An account with a mandate, even one pointing to a bank account you closed long ago, may not appear, so not finding your name does not mean nothing is owed. It does not show amounts either; only the registrar can. The SEC describes the process in its FAQs on the unclaimed dividends retrieval process, and our guide to the SEC non-mandated dividends search goes into detail.
Not on the list, or not sure which companies you hold? A Find My Shares search looks for holdings in your name across registrars and brokers.
Find My Shares, ₦10,000Every listed company's register of members is kept by a registrar, which also pays its dividends, so a claim goes to the registrar of the company that declared the dividend. The company's annual report names its registrar. Registrars that keep the registers of many listed companies include:
Older warrants and letters may carry a registrar's former name: United Securities Limited became Coronation Registrars in 2020. Our guide to share registrars in Nigeria explains how to tell which registrar holds your shares.
The NIBSS self-service mandate portal is at docuhub3.nibss-plc.com.ng/edmms/self-service. The full process, with the documents registrars ask for, is in our guides on how to claim unclaimed dividends in Nigeria and updating your bank details with a registrar.
Under section 60 of the Finance Act 2020, in force from 31 December 2020, dividends declared by a company quoted on the Nigerian Exchange that stay unclaimed for six years or more are meant to be transferred to the Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund, overseen by the Debt Management Office. The Act treats the money as a debt the Federal Government owes the shareholder, claimable at any time.
In a circular of 5 June 2025, the SEC said companies and registrars had continued to treat dividends older than twelve years as statute-barred without regard to the Act. Shareholders can continue to claim dividends that were not more than twelve years old before 31 December 2020, and until the fund is operational, companies and registrars must honour those claims. A dividend already more than twelve years old by the end of 2020 may be treated as statute-barred.
The fund's claims process is still being set up, so the registrar is the place to start either way: it holds the dividend history and can tell you whether a payment is still with it or has been transferred. More in our guide to the Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund.
Most unclaimed dividends belong to people who bought in public offers years ago, then moved, changed bank or lost the paperwork. A claim is made company by company, so it starts with knowing which companies you hold.
Find My Shares tells you which companies you hold and which registrar or broker keeps each holding. It does not claim dividends for you; you claim each one from that company's registrar.
The search costs ₦10,000, charged whether or not anything is found. Retrieving the balance held by each broker or company costs ₦3,000, quoted after the findings, and you choose which. Moving found shares into Shares Saver is free.
Start a Find My Shares searchMany old holdings are in banks that merged or closed after 2005, and the successor company's registrar now holds the record. See what happened to shares in Nigerian banks that no longer exist.
Dividends on a deceased shareholder's shares are claimed by the executor or administrator from the registrar, with the grant of probate or letters of administration. Shares Saver does not handle estates.
Registrars pay dividends into a bank account in your own name. Treat anyone who asks for an upfront fee to "release" or "unlock" a dividend, or for payment into a personal account, with suspicion, and check directly with the registrar or the SEC. Some legitimate charges do exist: a fee may apply when you set up a mandate through the NIBSS portal, and some registrars charge for processing.
Old shares, old dividends? Start by finding every holding registered in your name.
Find My SharesImportant disclaimer. This page is for general information and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, or any recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. The value of investments can fall as well as rise. You should seek independent regulated financial advice before making any investment decision. Shares Saver does not provide financial advice.
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Educational information only — not investment, legal or tax advice. Share values can fall as well as rise. All securities transactions are carried out through SEC-regulated stockbrokers.