A dividend declared and approved by a Nigerian company’s board is not the same as a dividend the parent company can actually receive offshore. The gap between the two is the foreign exchange conversion and remittance process — and it is where most avoidable delays occur.
Matching the CCI to the dividend
An authorised dealer bank processing a dividend remittance will match it against the CCI evidencing the original capital inflow. A mismatch in currency, amount, or shareholder name between the CCI and the dividend resolution is the single most common cause of a stalled remittance.
The remittance is only as fast as the paper trail behind it. Clean documentation converts a multi-week wait into a same-week transfer.
Tax clearance as the other gate
Dividend withholding tax must be settled and evidenced before an authorised dealer will process repatriation. Investors who assume this is a formality handled automatically by the bank often discover it is their own compliance obligation to satisfy first.
Building the clean file
The practical fix is treating dividend documentation with the same discipline as the original capital inflow — board resolution, WHT evidence, and CCI reconciliation assembled together, before the remittance request is submitted rather than in response to a bank query.
This note is general commentary on Nigerian legal practice and does not constitute legal advice or create a lawyer–client relationship. Outcomes depend on the specific facts and the applicable law at the time. For advice on a particular matter, speak with the firm.
Keep reading
