Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN) and Seamfix Limited for the deployment of Nigeria’s National Cooperative Identity, Trust and Digital Governance Infrastructure.
The government has also announced the immediate commencement of a 6-month National Revalidation and Re-certification exercise for all existing cooperatives.
The MoU was signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security, on the second day of the National Technical Workshop on Cooperative Sector Digitalisation held in Abuja.
Speaking during the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and the Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, said the agreement marked “the beginning of a new era of visibility, trust, accountability and digital governance” for Nigeria’s cooperative ecosystem.
This, he said, represents a shift from demonstration to implementation under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform & Revamp Programme RH-CRRP 2030.
READ ALSO: Nigeria Strengthens Collaboration to Drive Digital Transformation
Under the revalidation exercise, all existing cooperatives are to approach their respective State Departments of Cooperatives for verification and authentication of their registration records.
Following successful revalidation, cooperatives will be onboarded onto the National Cooperative Smart Registry, NCSR, and issued a Cooperative Verification Number, CVN, while their members will progressively receive the Cooperative Member Identification Number, CoopID.
The minister charged state directors of cooperatives as frontline regulators and implementers as well as CFN and ICOPRON to mobilise the movement for effective adoption.
At the heart of the new infrastructure are the NCSR, CVN and CoopID, which form the foundation of the National Cooperative Digital Architecture Platform, NCDAP.
“The objective is one genuine cooperative, one verifiable CVN, one cooperative member and one verifiable CoopID.”
According to the minister, the system is designed to close decades of identity and data gaps.
“With it, government will be able to identify genuine cooperatives, track interventions, and measure impact.
“We should be able to know who receives government support, where they are located and what impact that support is making.
“A verified CVN will also serve as a trusted credential for cooperatives to access government interventions, bank loans, contracts, and partnerships,” he stated.
