Cooperative Rating and Award Society of Nigeria (CRASoN) is set to recognise and reward cooperative societies and its outstanding members for their contributions to the economy, social impact and diligence in cooperative social responsibility at the upcoming National Cooperative award ceremony.
The event, which has been endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and supervised by the Federal Department of Cooperatives in Nigeria, is aimed at spurring healthy competition and transparency among cooperatives.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos, Victor Oyegoke, president of CRASoN, said the event, with the theme, “Strengthening cooperatives to serve as the catalyst for Nigeria’s socio-economic development,” would also use the medium to call on government to supports cooperatives, which is a vital tool in alleviating poverty at grass root level with its reliability in providing loans to its members at a very cheap and subsidised rate.
Giving more details, according to Muhammed Suleiman Bello, chairman of the College of Juro, the awards is divided into three – the project Coopcount, Coopcare, and Coopawards, purposely aimed to galvanise the cooperative sub-sector of the Nigerian economy.
Cooperative is a model to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in Nigeria, he said.
“There are over 300,000 cooperatives, with over 30,000,000 members, and over 950,000,000,000 given as loans to members. Job creation and employment of over 600,000 has emerged through cooperatives.
“With this analysis, it is clear that cooperatives have contributed immensely to the growth and development of this country and it is high time the government starts to delve into it,” Suleiman said.
Agreeing to this fact, Oyegoke said during an interview that “cooperatives have a trillion Naira in asset base. We have given over N950 billion as a loan to members. This has a great impact on the economy, so it is high time the government took cooperative seriously and give enough support to this sub-sector of the economy.”
This award ceremony will be held in Abuja will on the 15th and 16th of November 2019. According to the organizers, Yemi Osinbajo, vice president of Nigeria, Muhammed Sabo Nanono, minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, and Abdullahi Adamu, senator of the federal republic and Wale Raji, member of the House of Representatives and Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, governor of Kano State, will be present at the event.
