Nigeria’s Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Dr Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, says the country will review its outdated Cooperative Societies Act to meet global cooperatives’ best practices.
Abdullahi said this on Saturday at a news briefing to mark the 2025 International Day of Cooperatives in Abuja.
Represented by Ms Omolara Svensson, the Minister’s Special Assistant on Women and Youth Agricultural Innovation, he said the review was necessary to capture evolving trends in the system and facilitate effective cooperative businesses in the country.
Enumerating some of the efforts of the Nigerian Government toward repositioning cooperatives in the country, Abdullahi said they had taken a study and benchmarking mission to Kenya, Africa’s leading cooperative economy to draw lessons for local reform.
He said that under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP), the modern regulatory framework would also be established to promote professionalism and accountability in the sector.
According to him, this historic reform aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda”, positioning cooperatives as engines for rural development, food security, and inclusive economic growth.
Alhaji Idris Sani, the Federal Director of Cooperatives, said the 2025 International Day of Cooperatives was aimed at publicising the achievements of cooperatives across the globe.
It was also to sensitise the public to the relevance of the cooperative system to the development of nations.
According to him, the cooperative movement in Nigeria is vibrant, particularly in the areas of food security, job creation, increased income to members as well as the general public, poverty reduction, and entrepreneurship development.
“Cooperatives have the capacity to support the government’s efforts in different areas, and they are doing that to the best of their ability.
They provide access roads, donations to health centres, and donations of educational materials to communities where they operate, so these are some of the social responsibilities of successful cooperatives across the globe,” he highlighted.
Mr Emmanuel Atama, the Executive Secretary of the Cooperative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN), said that the cooperative model had access to security and affordable loan rates for members.
Atama described the theme of the day, “Cooperatives Build a Better World”, as apt for the country in its collective effort toward achieving inclusive growth and development.
The executive secretary said the day was a call for all to redouble efforts to use cooperative instrumentality to end poverty, hunger, and deprivation and entrench an egalitarian access to affordable finance.
“A good cooperative practice, supported by good legal framework and policies, solves the socio-economic challenges facing our country today.
It does this by mobilising citizens’ participation in democratic processes, putting economic powers and collective aspirations in the hands of citizens,” he said.
Some members of the various cooperatives, who attended the event, appealed to the government to support the movement for effective economic development.
The International Year of Cooperatives
On 19 June 2024, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives, underscoring the vital role cooperatives play in sustainable development.
Marked globally on the first Saturday of every July, the theme for the 2025 International Day of Cooperatives, “Cooperatives Build a Better World”, highlights the cooperative movement’s role in driving inclusive and sustainable solutions for a better world.
It also emphasises how cooperatives contribute to social and economic empowerment, fostering solidarity, democracy, equality, and equity while promoting ethical principles.
NAN