The federal government said it has launched a N200 billion share capital mobilisation campaign for the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria.
Announcing this development on Thursday in Kaduna, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Mr Aliyu Abdullahi, said the bank was designed under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP) and approved at the 8th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Cooperative Affairs.
Mr Abdullahi revealed that the ministry is targeting 10,000 cooperative societies across the 36 states and FCT through a tiered mobilisation plan: 1,000 societies at N21 million to N50 million, 3,000 societies at N16 million to N20 million, and 6,000 at N1 million to N15 million.
He also stated that “through this collective effort, we aim to mobilise approximately N200 billion and establish a strong, sustainable, and nationally owned cooperative financial institution capable of supporting agricultural development, enterprise growth, financial inclusion, housing, transportation, value-chain development, and wealth creation for millions of Nigerians.”
According to him, “this programme is not a government project imposed from above. It is a movement-driven reform agenda that seeks to give life to aspirations that cooperative stakeholders have expressed for decades.”
He added that to ensure continuity beyond the current administration, the ministry has established an Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee for policy coordination and a National Steering Committee with MDAs, apex cooperative organisations, and development partners.
“The Federal Department of Cooperatives has also assigned dedicated desk officers to each of the seven strategic pillars of RH-CRRP,” he added.
He noted that the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria will preserve cooperative control and identity while attracting strategic investment.
A 65 per cent equity will be owned by cooperative societies through the Cooperative Trust & Investment Society of Nigeria (CoopTrust), while 30 per cent will be open to institutional investors, development finance institutions, impact investors, and individual cooperators and 5 per cent is reserved for an Employee Share Ownership Scheme.
He further revealed that 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), CoopID, and CoopCHECK Credit Bureau powered by CreditRegistry.