2nd July, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government says it has only captured the database of 2,523 cooperative societies in its ongoing revalidation exercise to produce a directory of the societies across the state.
The government decried that out of the about 16,000 cooperative societies operating in the state, only 2,523 societies had come forward to have their database captured.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr. Olajide Bashorun disclosed this on Wednesday at a news conference to commemorate the 2015 International Day of Cooperative in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
He said the validation exercise commenced two years ago, with 90 days giving to the various societies to validate their operations with the government, but noted that many of them had not responded.
“About 2,523 cooperatives societies have so far validated their operation. What we found out was that over the years, we only captured the data of those registered not minding the moribund ones. Those who have refused to have their data captured are operating illegally.
“We have acquired software which we use in our offices state-wide to capture the data of the cooperatives societies. All co-operators can go to these offices and register. The 2nd edition of the Lagos State Cooperative Societies Directory will be presented to the Stakeholders as part of this year’s celebration and let me use this opportunity to inform all societies that are yet to be captured to go to any Cooperative Area Offices nearest to them for the validation exercise,” he said.
According to him, the implication of those not in the directory was that they were operating illegally and would be sanctioned by the government if caught.
He emphasised that “we have over 16,000 cooperatives societies in Lagos State with a membership of two million, but only 2,523 of them have registered with us in the revalidation exercise. A lot of them are still operating illegally,” he lamented.
However, Bashorun said the 2015 International Day of Cooperative in Lagos State was an event organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in collaboration with the Lagos State Cooperative Federation (LASCOFED), the umbrella body for all Cooperative Societies in the state.
He said the state government had declared between 1 and 5, 2015 to celebrate the week-long event for the purpose of achieving better outreach since one of the aims of the International Cooperative Day was to increase awareness of cooperative and promote the movement’s ideals of international solidarity economic efficiency, equality and world peace, with the theme: Equality.
According to him, the celebration would provide opportunity to showcase the achievements of cooperative societies in the state with a view to motivate other societies in attaining greater height.
Activities lined up for the celebration include visitation to care homes today (Thursday), special Jumat prayers on Friday, Novelty Match, at Agidingbi Grammar School on Saturday; annual lecture/raffle draws, inspection and exhibition, among others.