Clement Ogbemudia

Increasing non-payment of dividends is unsettling to shareholders who have turned annual meetings of companies into battlegrounds where they vent their anger on management and the board of directors. The meetings are sometimes turbulent especially when the management staff are compensated with increased salaries while the shareholders are left out.

The Nigerian stock market remained bearish Wednesday following the negative closure of trading activities on the Exchange. The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) dropped 18.29 index points or 0.04 per cent to settle at 49,691.17 points, down from 49,709.46 points recorded the previous day. Also, the market capitalisation depreciated by N9.9 billion, representing a 0.04 per cent fall, to close at N26.80 trillion compared to N26.81 trillion reported Tuesday.

The National President of Progressives Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Okezie Boniface, has berated the board of Guinea Insurance Plc over its persistent financial losses and inability to pay dividends to shareholders. Speaking Tuesday at the 64th Annual General Meeting of the Company in Lagos, Okezie bemoaned the yearly losses suffered by the company in its annual financial reports abd payment of regulatory fees and other levies over infractions by the company.