Nigeria to digitalise cooperative sector with National Smart Registry – Technology Times

The Federal Government is moving to digitalise Nigeria’s cooperative sector, with State Directors of Cooperatives across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) being tasked with driving the programme at state and community levels.

The directive was issued during a National Technical Workshop on Cooperative Sector Digitalisation organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with its technical partner, Seamfix Limited, according to a statement by the government agency.

At the centre of the digitalisation programme is the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR), a digital platform being developed to support the registration, verification and data management of cooperative organisations and their members across Nigeria.

Under the proposed system, cooperative organisations will receive a Cooperative Verification Number (CVN), while individual members will be assigned a Cooperative Member Identification Number (CoopID).

The government says the identifiers will strengthen the registration, verification and monitoring of cooperatives while providing a more reliable digital record of organisations and their members.

Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, says the Federal Government cannot digitalise the cooperative sector from Abuja alone, making the involvement of state cooperative departments critical to the programme’s implementation.

He therefore urged the State Directors of Cooperatives to take ownership of the initiative and ensure that the digitalisation effort reaches cooperatives and their members at the grassroots.

The digital infrastructure, the ministry says, is also expected to generate verified cooperative-sector data that can support financing, credit profiling and risk…