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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Federal Government has committed N200 billion share capital mobilization campaign for the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP).
Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sabi Abdullahi disclose this at the North-West Zonal Engagement of the Ministerial Advocacy Tour yesterday in Kaduna.
Abdullahi, in a statement, said the Ministry is targeting 10,000 cooperative societies across the 36 states and FCT through a tiered mobilization plan: 1,000 societies at N21M – N50M, 3,000 at N16M – N20M, and 6,000 at N1M – N15M.
The Minister stated that through this collective effort, the government aims to mobilize N200 billion and establish a strong, sustainable, and nationally owned cooperative financial institution to support agricultural development, enterprise growth, financial inclusion, housing, transportation, value-chain development, and wealth creation for millions of Nigerians.
He emphasized that the scheme is not a government project imposed from above, but a movement-driven reform agenda that seeks to give life to aspirations that cooperative stakeholders have expressed for decades.
To ensure continuity beyond the current administration, he said the Ministry had established an Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee for policy coordination and a National Steering Committee with MDAs, apex cooperative organizations, and development partners.
According to him, the bank will preserve cooperative control and identity while attracting strategic investment, adding that 65% of equity will be owned by cooperative societies through the Cooperative Trust & Investment Society of Nigeria (CoopTrust), while 30% will be open to institutional investors, and 5% for an employee share ownership scheme.
“The Ministry is rolling out the National Cooperative Digital Architecture Platform (NCDAP) to address data gaps. Key components include the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR), Cooperative Verification Number (CVN) and CoopID, CoopCHECK Credit Bureau powered by CreditRegistry”
“We cannot build a modern, globally competitive cooperative economy using outdated analog systems,” he added.
Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, said the cooperative movement has historically played a vital role in Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
Represented by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Murtala Dabo, Sani added that across our communities, cooperatives have served as platforms for collective action, savings mobilization, access to credit, enterprise development, agricultural production, and community empowerment.
“We advance major initiatives such as the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ), the Agricultural Quality Assurance Centre (AQAC), agricultural mechanization programmes, climate-smart agriculture initiatives, and value-chain development projects, strong and digitally enabled cooperatives will become even more critical to achieving scale, productivity, competitiveness, and prosperity,” he added.
