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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The federal government is set to digitally register and capture about 30,000 farmers’ cooperative societies across the country as part of a major reform to clean up the agricultural ecosystem.
The move aims to block impostors, strengthen credibility in farmers’ groups and ensure that government incentives, funding and support schemes are channelled strictly to legitimate cooperatives driving food production nationwide.
The federal government took the step when it noticed countless impostor organisations masquerading as representatives of farmers, agro processors and dealers.
The initiative would modernise operations, ensure transparent financial reporting, maintain accurate member/asset records, and improve governance.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, who announced the move at a meeting on the Review of the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act, Cap N98 LFN 2004, highlighted that the digitalisation process would bring efficiency, integrity, inclusion and sustainable growth to the sector.
According to him, digitalisation will strengthen cooperative institutions, increase trust, improve service delivery, reduce fraud, and unlock new opportunities across the cooperative economy.
He revealed that the cooperatives would become a vital instrument for Nigeria to achieve capital mobilisation, inclusive growth, and shared wealth creation when properly structured and supported.
As the driver of the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP), the minister emphasised that the programme aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s vision to mobilise all sectors of the economy towards building a One Trillion Dollar Economy by 2030.
He described the RH-CRRP as a bold and transformational national framework designed to position cooperatives as a tool for community wealth creation, poverty eradication, and inclusive growth.
He noted that key areas of focus include digital registration, national cooperative database, digital membership identification system, electronic documentation, administration of cooperative societies, filings, and reporting.
Also, he maintained that cooperatives must no longer be treated as a side activity, adding that they should be considered as strategic institutions capable of mobilising capital, empowering citizens, creating jobs, driving agricultural productivity, and strengthening the national economy.
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He acknowledged the efforts of CFN and International IDEA but emphasized that, by mandate and structure, this initiative should be led by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the supervising Ministry responsible for cooperative development in Nigeria.
He revealed that the ministry had fixed a date for a broader harmonisation process, consolidating the reviewed output from the stakeholders’ meeting and the ministry’s parallel work into a final national document”
According to him, “This document will align with the International Cooperative Alliance – Africa Model Cooperative Law and the Africa Ministerial Declaration and Action Plan, which Nigeria co-signed with other African Ministers in Kenya during the 14th Africa Ministerial Cooperative Conference (AMCCO) in October 2025”.
He further revealed that the IDEA will join the Coalition of the Willing (CoW), a group of credible partners supporting the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP).
He lauded the efforts of the critical stakeholders and the Federal Department of Cooperatives.
“Cooperatives today represent over 1 billion members worldwide, operating in over 100 countries, and providing over 280 million jobs — that’s almost 10% of the world’s employed population.
“In Nigeria, cooperatives are actively transforming lives across the agriculture, housing, credit, transportation, and trade sectors.
“We currently have over 370,000 registered cooperative societies with millions of members working to boost rural livelihoods, improve agricultural productivity, and expand financial inclusion — particularly among women and youth,” he added.
In her remarks, President Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN), Hannatu Mershak stated that the digitisation was not just about innovation for the sake of It, but for efficiency, for integrity, for inclusion, and for sustainable growth.
She added that the initiative would strengthen cooperative institutions, increase trust, improve service delivery, reduce fraud, as well as unlock new opportunities across the cooperative ecosystem.
But farmers have doubted the commencement process of the initiative, as in 2025, during the commemoration of the 2nd United Nations International Year of Cooperatives (IYC), the government made the same promise, but did nothing about it.
“These initiatives are good. But to what end? As a farmer, my concern is how to get inputs to grow my crops and not the reforms the government is talking about that will be actualised,” Abdul Aziz, a farmer in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, said.
