Cooperatives mobilise N1.8trn savings, disburse N1.3trn loans

Victor Oyegoke

The Nigerian cooperative sector has mobilised over N1.8 trillion in savings and disbursed N1.3 trillion in loans to members, the Cooperative Rating and Award Society of Nigeria (CRASoN) has said.

President of CRASoN, Victor Oyegoke, who revealed this at a press conference ahead of the 6th Nigerian National Cooperative awards, symposium, and exhibitions slated for Saturday in Abuja, said the corporative sector has proven to be a vital tool for economic development and poverty alleviation.

The symposium is being organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (Federal Department of Cooperatives) in collaboration with CRASON.

Oyegoke said the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and other Nigerians including Kemi Nandap, comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); Ahmed Audi, commandant-general of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); Aliyu Abdullahi, minister of state for agriculture and food security would be honoured for supporting the growth of cooperative societies in Nigeria.

“The Nigerian cooperative sector has been able to mobilise more than N1.8 trillion in savings and they have been able to mobilize more than 1.3 trillion that have given that out as loans,” he stated.

Oyegoke said President Bola Tinubu’s administration is supporting CRASoN to identify the challenges facing cooperative societies in the country and provide the required assistance.

Noting that cooperatives in Nigeria face four significant challenges, Oyegoke said the absence of comprehensive data was hindering the smooth operations of the societies.

He explained: “All over the world, it has been proven and tried by economists to see that cooperatives are really a veritable tool to alleviate poverty among the masses.

“All over the world, just 300 cooperative societies out of the over three million that were registered by the International Alliance have over 2.1 trillion US dollars in assets. Just the size of the largest 7th economy in the world. In Nigeria, cooperatives are on the concurrent list. Each state has the power to legislate regarding cooperatives.”

Oyegoke said CRASoN is working with state governments to track the number of existing cooperative societies.

“In the 36 states, we get data to address the issue of lack of comprehensive data. We have a platform called CoopCOUNT and CoopCHECK,” he said.

“The platform tries to get data from all the states. The directors of cooperatives in each state are the custodians of cooperatives within their states.

“They are responsible for registering all cooperatives within that state. They have all the comprehensive data. So, we pick from all the states and aggregate them.

“Today, we have over 400,000 cooperatives. But what we discovered is that some of them are dormant.”

Oyegoke added the federal government is supporting cooperative societies, especially the agric-based ones, with inputs such as fertilisers, seedlings, and pesticides.