By GINIKA OKOYE

The National Cooperatives Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN), is set to inaugurate the cooperative digital and banking platform to assist cooperative members access low interest loans for their businesses.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that CFAN is collaboration with Akilaah National Cooperative Society Limited.

Mr Emmanuel Atama, the Executive Secretary of CFAN, said this at news briefing to mark the 2025 International Day of Cooperatives in Abuja on Saturday.

He said that the cooperatives model had access to security and affordable loan rates.

Atama said the theme of the day; ?Cooperative Build a better World? was apt for the country in a collective effort toward achieving inclusive growth and development.

The executive secretary said the day was a call for all to redouble efforts to use cooperative instrumentality to end poverty, hunger and deprivation and entrench an egalitarian Access to affordable finance.

According to him, a good cooperative practice supported by good legal framework and policies solves the socio-economic challenges facing our country today as it mobilises citizens? participation in democratic processes, put economic powers and collective aspirations in the hands of citizens.

?We are celebrating ten years of the Unified Cooperative Platform (UCP) and the establishment of the Cooperative Development Fund (CDF) leading to the emergence of Cooperative Development Bank of Nigeria soon.

?We call on government at all levels and private sector employers of labour not to delay nor withhold cooperative deductions but render them to the cooperative as soon as salaries are paid to enable the cooperatives use it for the good of their members.

?Government should as a matter of urgency transform the Cooperative Departments at Federal and State levels to Cooperative Development Commission for improved regulation and practice of Cooperative for better service delivery to citizens,? he said.

The President, Akilaah National Cooperative Society Limited, Ms Amandine Kouakou, said the platform would be a banking solution for cooperative members.

Kouakou, the facilitator of the bank, said the platform would enable members save monies, do online and offline transactions as well as application for loans.

?Anything you do with a bank, you should be able to do it with your cooperative banking system, like saving your money, getting an online app where you can pay your transactions with the cooperative platform.

?You can apply for loan, get your loan approved directly from your cooperative without going to the cooperative office.

?So, we are just giving exactly the same solution that banks are giving but it is dedicated to cooperators only.

?As a cooperator, it is not all the loan you want that the bank gives you, they ask you for so many things that you cannot provide.

?But as a cooperator, we are self-owners of the business. We own that bank ourselves.

?So, we save the money, we lend the money, we use that money to improve our businesses without somebody asking us to bring car or our land documents,? she said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Alhaji Sabi Abdullahi, said that Cooperatives helped in promoting democratic and inclusive development rooted in solidarity.

Abdullahi, represented by Omolara Svensson, his Special Assistant on Women and Youth Agricultural Innovation said that Cooperatives contributed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He said the government had introduced various reforms aimed at positioning cooperatives as engines for rural development, food security, and inclusive economic growth.

Alhaji Idris Sani, the Federal Director of Cooperatives, said the day was aimed at publicising the achievements of cooperatives across the globe.

Sani said the day was also to sensitise the public on the relevance of the cooperative system to the development of nations.

According to him, the cooperative movement in Nigeria is vibrant particularly in the areas of food security, job creation, increased income to members as well as the general public, poverty reduction and entrepreneurship development.

?Cooperatives have the capacity to support government efforts in different areas and they are doing that to the best of their ability.

?They provide access road, donations to health centres, donations of educational materials to communities where they operate, so these are some of the social responsibilities of successful cooperatives across the globe,? he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event attracted cooperative members from various sectors of the country. (NAN)

?PHOTO: From right: The representative of the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Omolara Svensson, the Deputy Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Alhaji Idris Sani and Mr Emmanuel Atama, the Executive Secretary, National Cooperative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN)

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