NAN-H-28
Cooperative
By Victor Adeoti
Osogbo, July 1, 2017 (NAN) Mr Gbenga Awosode, Special Adviser to Gov. Rauf Aregbesola on Cooperative Matters, says the state government has registered more than 24,000 cooperative societies in the state.
Awosode announced this at a programme to mark the International Cooperative Day on Saturday in Osogbo, observing that the effort was to stimulate economic growth in Osun.
He also said more than 16,000 registered cooperative societies had benefited immensely from the state government grants towards wealth creation.
According to him, the observance of International Cooperative Day recognises and reaffirms the invaluable role of cooperative unions in social, economic and cultural development.
“The essence of the annual celebration is principally to increase awareness about cooperative movement, highlight successes recorded by movement in the past years and to promote the core values and ideals of cooperative movement,’’ he said.
Awosode, nonetheless, said in spite of the huge developmental value of cooperative societies, they were beset with myriad of challenges such as poor management, lack of cooperation among cooperators, low commitment, overdue loans and debts, among others.
He said these challenges had stifled the growth of cooperative unions in Nigeria and other developing countries.
“These challenges must be overcome if cooperative societies are to serve as tools for economic development, poverty alleviation and wealth creation,’’ he observed.
Awosode, however, said the state government recognised the importance of cooperative societies as a critical political and economic force and would continue to partner with it for economic growth.
The programme was organised by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperative in the state collaboration with Federation of Osun Cooperative Ltd.
The International Cooperative Day is celebrated worldwide on the first Saturday of every July while the theme of the programme was “Cooperative Ensures No One Is Left Behind.’’(NAN)
VE/KAY
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Edited by Kayode Olaitan