Cooperatives boss calls for capacity building in sector
NAN-HE-17
Cooperatives
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja, March 29, 2017 (NAN) Mr Akintoye Akintola, the Federal Director of Cooperatives, on Wednesday stressed the need for an all round capacity building in the cooperative sector in the country.
Akintola who said this at a two-day summit, organized by the Abuja Cooperatives Federation in Abuja, said it was the only way the national cooperative body could achieve its vision for the sector.
The theme of the summit is,“ Building the Capacity of Cooperatives to Achieve Sustainable Growth and Development.’
According to Akintola,“ the vision of our administration is to promote cooperative entrepreneurship and stronger business focus among cooperatives.
“This will ensure cooperatives contribute at least 30 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP by the year 2025 and this vision cannot be achieved without an all round capacity building in the sector.
He said that the Federal Government had become very supportive of cooperative activities in the country and was posed to strengthen it through provision of enabling environment.
He said the government was presently considering the revised cooperative policy presented to it, which would address current issues and focus on cooperative affairs.
He said:“ The goal of the new policy is to use cooperatives to promote diverse economic activities in the non-oil sector and create employment and wealth for Nigerians.
“Potentials are diverse and numerous in the country and through cooperatives we can begin to unlock them.
Dr Sam Ankeli, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Disability Matters, said that for cooperative societies to be efficient, they needed the right knowledge.
Ankeli said cooperatives should be dynamic and ensure the use of modern technology to help improve efficiency and output of products and also think outside the box on issues relating to funding.
“There are community based resources you can access funds from rather than depend solely on the government because there is already so much pressure on the government on funds.
“ We need to do proper needs assessment to identify the various needs of each cooperatives, do comparative study/analysis and know their operational limit.
“ It is important to derive a good strategy that will measure performance of the cooperatives and there is need for proper monetary and evaluation strategy,’’ he said.
As part of his recommendations, Ankeli said it was important for the government to ensure stability in policy formulation in the country to ensure stability and consistency.
He urged the executives to embark on more public awareness on the importance and benefits of cooperatives, to gain more strength in the society.
Alhaji Abdulrasaq Isakoto, the traditional leader of Igu, Koton-Karfe, urged ABCOF to ensure that its members in the rural communities accessed the basic facilities.
Isakoto urged the executives to fashion out better ways of managing cooperatives to contribute their quota in improving the economy of the country.
Also, Mrs Safiya Umar, who represented the Managing Director, Abuja Enterprise Agency, said the agency was willing to collaborate with ABCOF, to achieve the theme of the summit.
Umar called on the cooperators to consider credibility when selecting their leaders, adding that it was a major way of ensuring sustainability of the cooperatives.
Also present at the event was representatives of banks, insurance companies and other stakeholders in the sector.(NAN)
LCN/IA