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First Registrars introduces e-voting at AGM

By on March 5, 2013

First Registrars Nigeria Limited has introduced an electronic tele-voting device for casting of votes electronically with little or no human intervention during Polls.

The new innovation was showcased at the Honeywell Flour Mills Plc Extra-Ordinary yearly meeting (EGM) held in Lagos at the weekend, where electronic/tele-voting devices were issued to shareholders for the casting of their votes electronically with little or no human intervention during election.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Bayo Olugbemi Managing Director, First Registrars Nigeria Limited said “gone are the days when elections conducted at corporate meetings were done manually and through the show of hands. The manual casting of votes at such meetings contribute a huge burden on the registrars, the shareholders and the client companies considering the long processes involved in the distribution of Poll materials to the shareholders, manual ticking (FOR, AGAINST or ABSTAIN) of the resolutions to be voted, and manual collation of the poll cards to ascertain those who voted for, against or abstain.

“With the advent of the e-Voting/tele-voting devices introduced by First Registrars, voting and Poll processes at corporate meetings are now done seamlessly in a jiffy with the election results being projected live at such meetings as seen at the Honeywell Flourmills EGM.

Continuing, he said, “First Registrars is innovation driven and will continue to pioneer market based solutions that will give our shareholders and client companies unparalleled advantage in the share registration industry. We benchmark only the international best practices while setting the pace for others to follow in the Nigerian Capital Market – we are indeed the leader, but will never be complacent”.he said.

While introducing the devices to the shareholders prior to the Poll, Mr. Abayomi Oluwato ,Group Head, Business Development and Services, First Registrars familiasised the shareholders with the uses of the devices and how to vote (FOR, AGAINST or ABSTAIN).

He also assured shareholders that the devices will not only capture the head counts of voters, it will capture the number of units owned by them. Besides, multiple share accounts can be linked to a single voting device (for shareholders with multiple or several share accounts) to ensure that all their votes really count.

“Above all, Poll results are displayed on the screen instantly after every poll for transparency while accurate reports are also available for audit purposes. In addition, the devices could be used for the election of audit committee, Board members election and other Opinion Polls.”

The Chairman, Honeywell Flourmills Plc, Oba Otudeko commended the efforts of First Registrars in the transformation ofshare registration industry through ground breaking innovations, just as the various shareholders’ groups also commended First Registrars for this exceptional innovation.

( Guardian)