FG launches Cooperative Bank share mobilisation, unveils digital IDs for cooperators
The federal government on Monday flagged off a nationwide mobilisation drive for the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria and unveiled new digital identity systems aimed at transforming the country’s cooperative sector and expanding financial inclusion.
The initiative was launched during the South-West Zonal Engagement of the Ministerial Advocacy Tour held at the LASCOFED Multipurpose Hall in Ikeja, Lagos.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said the programme forms part of the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP) 2025–2030 approved by the National Council on Cooperative Affairs in March 2026.
According to him, the initiative is designed to reposition cooperatives as key drivers of inclusive economic growth, food security, job creation, enterprise development and poverty reduction in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“Commencing this tour in the South-West is a symbolic return to the roots of the cooperative movement in Nigeria. This is where it all began in 1937 with Gbedun Cooperative, and it is fitting that we relaunch our reform agenda here,” Abdullahi said.
He explained that the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria would provide affordable financial services to farmers, artisans, traders, small businesses, women, youths and persons with special needs.
The minister said the ownership structure of the bank was deliberately designed to preserve its cooperative identity.
According to him, 65 per cent equity will be reserved for cooperative societies and individual cooperators, while 30 per cent will be opened to private and institutional investors, with the remaining five per cent allocated to employees of the bank and affiliated cooperative enterprises.
