Enhancing local business, stakeholders hail cooperative regulation.

In its determination to substantiate her leadership as new emerging economics in Africa, the Federal Government Nigeria (FGN) in partnership with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) through the department of cooperation is now repositioning the sub sector towards enabling the active poor in the rural communities to have access to loan through a proactive regulated policy that will ensure more access to business credit facility.

At a meeting tagged “ an interface with state departments of cooperatives, leaders of RUFIN mentored financial cooperatives and micro- finance officers of the 12 pilot states” recently organized by the Department of Cooperative, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD),the director, Dr. Dickson Okolo said the enhancement of the cooperative societies towards being able to access loans as a group would assist many rural active poor farmers and other businesses in the rural communities with attendant positive impact to the nation’s economy with increased earning of people adding that a policy paper for regulation  will soon be presented to the national executive council for approval. 

Dr. Okolo emphasized the need for proper mainstreaming the cooperative societies into financial business so as to enhance a rural driven economy where the farmers, processors and marketers can have access to credit facilities through micro financial banks and other bigger organized cooperatives just as he mentioned a bill for an act to enable micro finance operation with cooperatives with regulation will be soon sent to the National Assembly. 

Some of the cooperative representatives commended the positive impact the injection of the present leadership of  Federal cooperative , FMARD saying the financial base of their multipurpose have increased they keyed into the new regulation policy of the present macro economy policy of the federal government and RUFIN. 

“RUFIN is the Federal Government of Nigeria and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) funded project. The essence is to create an enabling environment for the micro finance sector to strive in a sustainable manner in the country and also to equally build capacity of practitioners which includes the Micro finance Institutions and the financial cooperatives towards being able to provide their mandated services of ensuring access to credit loan by the rural active poor in the rural communities” said Mr. Kikelomo.