Top 10 Popular Cooperative Societies In Nigeria ([currentyear])

Do you know about cooperative societies in Nigeria? The idea of a cooperative society has existed in Nigeria since before colonization. In Yoruba land, the idea of cooperative societies has been going on there since the sixteenth century, and back then it was called ESUSU, and among Yoruba speaking tribes it is most often called AJO.

The service of these cooperative societies is in all areas of human existence, like marketing, consumer building, credit, group farming, and craft worker organization. The first cooperative society in Nigeria was made up of four hundred cocoa farmers in 1907 and was known as the Agege Planters. Although the colonial government at the time did not give them much support, they still persevered.

Cooperative societies these days are run on the model of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in the year 1844. It was approved as a business by the international cooperative alliance in 1937 and was introduced to Nigeria in 1926 when the agege planters were given recognition and reorganized in Abeokuta and Ibadan to increase the sales of their farm produce.

In the year 1937, the first cooperative society came into existence in the western part of Nigeria and it was known as the Gbedun cooperative produce marketing society.

Top 10 Cooperative Societies In Nigeria

10. NNEW NATIONAL SECRETARIAT

This cooperative society is located on the fifth floor of NECA House plot A2 Hakeem Balogun Street in the central business district of Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos. This cooperative’s reason for existence may be to empower and motivate women to become entrepreneurs and, in so doing, raise generations of independent Nigerian women.

When some of these women were met, it was discovered that they experienced little or no financial support to help them continue running their businesses. Even when these funds were provided, the criteria were far beyond what the women could meet or provide. An example is the high-interest rates of some commercial banks.

9. THE NIGERIA EMPLOYER’S CONSULTATIVE ASSOCIATION

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) is the head of employers in the organized private sector in the country. In the past five to seven years, it has seen an increase in the number of small businesses when they are put on par with the medium and large scale businesses that take up the majority of the cooperative society members.

Most of the businesses registered with the society are owned by women. Although some small scale businesses are not registered members, this society was established in 1957 to assist the government in the consultation of private-sector employers on matters that affect them.

8. ADDAX STAFF COOPERATIVE MULTIPURPOSE SOCIETY

This cooperative society was known formerly as Addax staff thrift and cooperative society limited when it was created in the year 2004 and started its service in the month of February of that same year.

7. THE NIGERIAN POLICE COOPERATIVE

The Nigerian Police Cooperative is one of the popular cooperative societies in Nigeria. The Nigeria police cooperative was formed to improve the welfare of its members. It was created in 1977. The mission of this society is to be a leading movement by providing distinct and innovative welfare to its members and also the public.

All these will be achieved through utilizing modern internet technology with members in or outside of the police force to deliver adequate welfare services to members and the general public.

The society was formed by force order number 130 in order to take care of and assist with the needs of the Nigerian police and their respective families.

6. TINY SEED COOPERATIVE MULTIPURPOSE SOCIETY

This cooperative society is about individuals who have like minds and have a common vision to assist each other, they support thrift and savings among each other and also provide loans to their members to start their business or to support a business that has already been established.

What they do is what is called crowdfunding which is when the members raise money to help any member who needs it especially loans that the commercial banks won’t give may be due to the high rate of interest or the financial power of the person.

This cooperative society is registered with the Lagos state government under section ten of cap five of the laws of the state.

5. LAGOS STATE COOPERATIVE FEDERATION LIMITED

This society was born from the old Lagos co-operative thrift and credit union limited that was created in 1952 and it was registered in 1966 as the head of all societies in the state of Lagos as at then. After Lagos state was created in 1967, the name was changed to Lagos state co-operative federation limited and was registered on the third of May 1982.

The Cooperative Society is a non-governmental organization charged with the responsibility of representing, uniting, and also serving cooperative societies in the state of Lagos.

4. NNPC STAFF COOPERATIVE MULTIPURPOSE SOCIETY LIMITED

The cooperative society was created in the year 1979 with the purpose of improving economic wellbeing, social wellbeing, and the provision of quality services to its members.

When the society first started, it had about twenty members, but it currently has over six thousand members all over Nigeria. It serves the staff of the NNPC and its subsidiaries, which are the department of petroleum resources and the petroleum technology development fund. It gives loans of up to twenty million naira to its members.

3. COWRIES MULTIPURPOSE COOPERATIVE SOCIETY

This is a limited liability cooperative society that was created to help young entrepreneurs create private funds. They believe individuals can do better when they work together than individually.

2. FOOD DEFENSE CORPS COOPERATIVE SOCIETY

This cooperative society started as a small group in the state of Akwa Ibom but was created in the year 2016. The system they have in place is for young adults to learn how to farm as they help young adults, both male and female, dive into mechanized farming and how to access and promote the ecosystem.

1. GOLDWRIGHT COOPERATIVE SOCIETY

This is a registered thrift and credit society that is aimed at assisting its members to build wealth and achieve their dreams in life. The cooperative society was registered in the year 2020 in March. They also give financial and technology solutions to their members.

CONCLUSION

The importance of joining some of these cooperative societies is that they assist their members to have a saving culture, they provide access to loans, some create jobs and also help to build local small scale businesses.

There are various cooperative societies to choose from like the farmers’ cooperative societies, marketing cooperative societies, credit cooperative societies, producer cooperative societies, consumer cooperative societies, cooperative housing societies and others.

To register a cooperative society in Nigeria costs ten thousand naira and after the payment has been made, a letter of recognition is given, but it lasts only for three years before it gets a certificate of registration that makes it a legal entity.