Abstract:

The incidence of unclaimed dividends has been one of the major issues in the Nigerian economy till date this research examined the impact of registrar’s span of control services by the active nineteen (19) registrar companies in the Nigerian stock market and the effect on the growth of unclaimed dividends in Nigeria. Regression model and stochastic dominance were used to examine the relationship between the span of control of company registrars and the incidence of companies’ default and registrars` defaults in the determination of the growth of unclaimed dividends.  The study revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the span of control of company registrars and aggregate amount of unclaimed dividends with the quoted firms in Nigeria. The study revealed that there is first and second order stochastic dominance of unclaimed dividends with the companies over the unclaimed dividend with the registrars. The study also revealed that there is skewness in the distribution of the number of the companies each registrar serviced in the Nigerian stock market.  The study therefore concludes that the increasing amount of unclaimed dividends with the companies that pay dividends than the registrars that are expected to manage the process of dividend payment for fifteen months beginning from the date of dividend payments in Nigeria.  The study therefore recommends that the Federal Government and supervisory authorities should intensify the enforcement of the policy on the maximum number of companies each registrar companies should service. And to check the possible collusion between the registrars and the quoted companies that pay dividends in Nigeria.  This will ensure that there is equity and even distribution of services among the registrars, and also to reduce the rising trends of unclaimed dividends in Nigeria. A situation where some registrars serviced up to forty and some serviced only one or two, in the face of poor staffing by the registrars calls for urgent review.