The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, says the cooperatives sector has resolved to make 30-per-cent contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product by 2025.
Ogbeh said this in Minna on Tuesday during the inauguration of the two-day congress of the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria.
He said: “The Federal Director of Cooperatives has told me that the cooperatives sector has resolved to achieve a 30-per-cent contribution to Nigeria’s GDP by the year 2025.”
He expressed optimism that the target would be achieved through the ongoing re-engineering of the cooperatives sector by the Federal Department of Cooperatives.
The minister said that if the potential of the cooperatives sector was well harnessed, it would go a long way in fast-tracking the Federal Government’s efforts to diversify the nation’s economy.
Ogbeh said: “A recent report by the International Cooperative Alliance estimated that 26 million people worldwide work in cooperative enterprises as employees or worker-members, while 800 million people around the world are cooperative members.”
Ogbeh said that Kenya ranked number seven in the world and number one in Africa in terms of the number, size and contributions of cooperatives to development.
He said: “The contribution of cooperatives to Kenya’s GDP is put at 45 per cent; with regard to savings and deposits, the contribution is 31 per cent; so all hope is not lost for our cooperatives in Nigeria.”
He quoted a recent United Nations report that cooperatives, in their various forms, promoted full participation in economic and social development of all people.
Ogbeh said: “I am, therefore, looking forward to see how the CFN will deploy its cooperative management services to support our rural folks under the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise Programme of my ministry.”
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state, while inaugurating the congress, said that cooperatives were veritable tools for development, adding that cooperative societies would impact positively on the rich and poor if their potential was harnessed and utilised.
Bello said: “It is my belief that cooperatives are common platforms where people can work together for their common good.”
Bello urged the CFN to organise free and fair elections so as to elect credible officers with proven integrity.
