RAYMOND OZOJI reports
President of the Cooperative Federation of Anambra State (COFAS) Dr. Ogochukwu Soludo says they have been able to revive cooperative movement in Anambra State after 34 years of being moribund, ineffective and redundant.
Soludo who stated that the cooperative movement in the state has suffered so much damage as it provided opportunity for crooks to also float supposed cooperative systems and duped a lot people, noted that the trend dampened the zeal of people who ordinarily would have liked to harness the cooperative advantage to make a difference.
He however expressed optimism that the status quo has changed because they have been able to wrestle cooperatives out of the hands of impostors and it is a new beginning of good things for the cooperative sector in Anambra State.
The COFAS president noted that they want to begin to sensitize and educate people to get them to even understand the nitty gritty of the cooperative movement. He said there are about 18, 500 registered cooperatives in Anambra State but sadly enough, not up to 500 are functional.
Soludo expressed concern that sometimes people often started cooperatives on the wrong premise; speculating that there is a whole lot of money trapped in Central Bank of Nigeria from Development Partners and it is only through cooperatives that such money would be disbursed. Hence, people hastily registered cooperatives waiting for the windfalls which he believes negated the whole process.
Soludo who emphasized that cooperatives thrived on cooperation and combined efforts, stressed the dire need for credible platforms for such partnerships, stressing that the process must be transparent and then the management must certainly be one people can trust with their money without dubious intentions.
He also pointed out that ADSI Multi-purpose Cooperative which is his primary cooperative has within three years of its establishment become one of the fastest growing and most formidable cooperatives in Nigeria, not just in Anambra State.
He said ADSI Multi-Purpose Cooperative has over 530 membership strength and also has more than 30 self-funded products, adding that even if one wants to support, they would want to see your track records, credibility ratings and ability to deliver on your promises.
Soludo therefore emphasized that as part of the regeneration process, they would profile all the cooperatives in Anambra State through membership revalidation to enable them to know the cooperatives that are really functional out of the 18, 500 cooperatives in the state and for them to also have the data of active cooperatives, creat COFAS Forum as well as help them to access funds from development partners.
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