The Federal Government has directed cooperative officials in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to lead the implementation of the National Cooperative Smart Registry across their jurisdictions.
The government said the digitalisation programme was designed to address longstanding identity and data gaps in Nigeria’s cooperative sector and improve access to financing and government interventions.
The statement was signed recently by Ezeaja Ikemefuna, Head, Department of Information, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Speaking at the National Technical Workshop on Cooperative Sector Digitalization in Abuja, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, described the state directors as “Frontline Implementers, not spectators.”
He said the workshop was organised to move the sector from “Reform Conversations to Reform Implementation” under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform & Revamp Programme, RH-CRRP 2030.
“Distinguished Directors of Cooperatives, this is particularly why you are here. The Federal Government cannot successfully digitalize Nigeria’s cooperative sector from Abuja alone. Cooperative regulation and administration take place across our States and communities.You are therefore not spectators in this transformation; you are Frontline Implementers,” he said.
Abdullahi said the state directors would be responsible for implementing the digital tools at state and community levels.
He tasked them with understanding the search, registration and validation processes, as well as the generation of the Cooperative Verification Number, CVN, and Cooperative Member Identification Number, CoopID.
He charged them to “Ask questions. Challenge the process constructively. Seek clarification. Identify peculiarities within your States.”
He added that “We are building a national infrastructure, and therefore it must work for every cooperative across the entire federation“.
The minister said digitalisation would allow government, banks and development partners to identify, verify, finance and regulate cooperatives.
“For too long we could not plan for cooperatives because we could not see them. We cannot effectively finance what we cannot identify. We cannot properly regulate what we cannot see. With NCSR, CVN and CoopID, government, banks and development partners can now identify, verify, finance and regulate cooperatives with confidence,” he said.
He described the reform as “not merely an ICT project, but an economic and institutional reform”, warning that it must not transfer existing manual inefficiencies to digital platforms.
Abdullahi also linked the digital infrastructure to the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, saying verified cooperative data would support share subscription, credit profiling and risk management.
He said the bank would be “government-enabled, cooperatively-owned, cooperatively-controlled and professionally managed,” with share subscription expected to commence by the end of October 2026.
The Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, said the digital infrastructure would support transparent delivery of input subsidies, credit interventions and technical assistance to verified cooperators under the AGROW initiative.
He said, ‘’ the digital infrastructure we are building today, starting with the CVN and Smart Registry, will serve as the primary strategy for transparently delivering input subsidies, credit interventions, and technical assistance directly to verified cooperators under the AGROW initiative’’.
Ogunbiyi said the RH-CRRP 2030 was designed to modernise the cooperative sector, improve financial inclusion and eliminate fraudulent actors.
The workshop was attended by cooperative directors from the 36 states and FCT, officials of relevant agencies, development partners, technology experts, CFN and ICOPRON.
The event featured a live demonstration of the digital platform by Seamfix Limited.
