The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN) and Seamfix Limited for the deployment of a national digital identity and governance infrastructure for cooperative societies. The government also announced the immediate commencement of a six-month National Revalidation and Re-certification Exercise for all existing cooperative societies across the country. The MoU was signed on Wednesday by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, on behalf of the ministry, during the second day of the National Technical Workshop on Cooperative Sector Digitalisation in Abuja. Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, described the agreement as a major step towards improving visibility, accountability and digital governance in Nigeria’s cooperative sector. Abdullahi said the initiative marked “the beginning of a new era of visibility, trust, accountability and digital governance” and represented a shift “from demonstration to implementation” under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform & Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP 2030). Under the revalidation exercise, all existing cooperative societies are expected to approach their respective State Departments of Cooperatives for verification and authentication of their registration records. Following successful verification, the societies will be enrolled on the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR) and issued a Cooperative Verification Number (CVN). Their members will subsequently be registered and progressively issued Cooperative Member Identification Numbers (CoopID). Abdullahi charged State Directors of Cooperatives, whom he described as “frontline regulators and implementers”, to ensure effective implementation of the exercise. He also urged the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria and the International Cooperative Research and Development Organisation (ICOPRON) to mobilise members of the cooperative movement for effective adoption of the new system. The minister said the NCSR, CVN and CoopID would form the core of the National Cooperative Digital Architecture Platform (NCDAP), with the objective of ensuring that every genuine cooperative and member could be identified and verified. He said the system would address longstanding gaps in cooperative identity and data management and enable government to identify beneficiaries of its interventions, track their locations and assess the impact of support provided. “We should be able to know who receives government support, where they are located and what impact that support is making,” Abdullahi said. He added that a verified CVN would serve as a trusted credential for cooperatives seeking access to government interventions, bank loans, contracts and partnerships. According to him, the digital platform would also integrate with CoopCHECK, a cooperative credit bureau, to improve credit profiling and lending to cooperative societies. He said the system would not be restricted to smartphone users, as USSD and feature-phone access would be incorporated to ensure that cooperators in rural communities were not excluded. Abdullahi further said digital verification would strengthen compliance with Section 54 of the Cooperative Societies Act, particularly against the illegal use of the name “Co-operative”. “Genuine cooperatives have nothing to fear from visibility and verification,” he said. The minister also directed the harmonisation of ongoing reviews of the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act towards the production of a new Cooperative Societies Bill for repeal and re-enactment. He said the proposed legislation would recognise digital registration, electronic records, digital identity, data governance and financial technology within the cooperative sector. Abdullahi said the ministry would collaborate with the CFN, National Assembly, state Houses of Assembly, Nigerian Law Reform Commission, Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and other stakeholders to develop a modern legal framework for the sector. He said the proposed law would provide clearer provisions on registration, governance, reporting, supervision, auditing and sanctions while aligning the cooperative sector with national identity and financial system architecture. The minister added that the framework would facilitate interoperability with credit bureaus and fintech platforms while providing safeguards for members’ data and rights. He also linked the digital i
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