First Registrars initiate e-voting at shareholders meeting

First Registrars Nigeria Limited, a leading Capital Market Registrars Company in the Nigerian Capital Market has initiated e-voting at shareholder meetings using Honeywell Flour Mills Plc Extra-Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) as pioneer sample.

At the meeting, electronic/tele-voting devices were issued to shareholders for the casting of their votes electronically and seamlessly with little or no human intervention during polls.

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 with the election results being projected live.

Abayomi Oluwato, Group Head, Business Development and Services, First Registrars while introducing the devices to the shareholders prior to the Poll, acquainted the shareholders with the uses of the devices and how to vote (FOR, AGAINST or ABSTAIN). He also assured the shareholders that the devices not only capture the head counts of voters, they also capture the number of units owned by them and that 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.

Ayoola Oba Otudeko, Chairman, Honeywell Flourmills Plc greatly commended the efforts of First Registrars in transforming the share registration industry through ground breaking innovations. Several shareholders and shareholders’ associations also commended First Registrars for this exceptional innovation.

Bayo Olugbemi, Managing Director/CEO, First Registrars Nigeria Limited 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”.

Above all, Poll results are displayed on the screen instantly after every poll for transparency while accurate reports are also available for audit purposes. Indeed, it was a very pleasant experience for all the shareholders and participants present at the EGM. In addition, the devices could be used for the election of audit committee, Board members election and other Opinion Polls.

IHEANYI NWACHUKWU