Nigeria’s federal government has directed cooperative directors from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to serve as frontline implementers of the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR), moving the sector from reform discussions to active digital deployment.
The instruction was delivered at a national technical workshop on cooperative sector digitalization in Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, 11 August 2026. Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, said the meeting marked a shift from “Reform Conversations to Reform Implementation” under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revitalization Program (RH-CRRP) 2030.
State directors as frontline implementers
Abdullahi said the digital transformation cannot be managed from Abuja alone. “Cooperative regulation and administration take place across our States and communities. You are therefore not spectators in this transformation; you are frontline implementers,” he told the directors.
He asked them to learn the search, registration and validation workflows, as well as how to generate the Cooperative Verification Number (CVN) for societies and the Cooperative Member Identification Number (Coop ID) for individuals. “Ask questions. Challenge the process constructively. Seek clarification. Identify peculiarities within your States. We are building a national infrastructure, and it must work for every cooperative across the entire federation,” he said.
Closing data gaps
The minister said the digitalization programme is intended to resolve identity and data gaps that have limited planning, financing and regulation. “For too long we could not plan for cooperatives because we could not see them. We cannot effectively finance what we cannot identify. We cannot properly regulate what we cannot see,” he said.
He said the NCSR, CVN and Coop ID will support search, registration, verification and digital governance, improving trust, visibility and regulatory oversight.
Cooperative bank timeline
Abdullahi connected the digital identity system to the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, saying the registry and identifiers would provide verified data for share subscription, credit profiling, risk management and sustainable operations. He described the bank as “government-enabled, cooperatively-owned, cooperatively-controlled and professionally-managed.”
Share subscription is targeted to begin by the end of October 2026, following resolutions of the 8th National Council on Cooperative Affairs.
Advocacy tour and memorandum
On the Ministerial Advocacy Tour, the minister confirmed that the South-West, North-West and South-South zones have been covered. Visits to the North-Central, South-East and North-East are to follow before the bank’s launch.
He also said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN) and technical partner Seam fix Limited will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the following day to establish the collaboration framework.
Abdullahi said the reform is anchored in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and is intended to build a modern, inclusive, transparent and accountable cooperative ecosystem that contributes to food security, financial inclusion, job creation and shared prosperity. He called on the Federal Department of Cooperatives, state directors, CFN, the Institute of Cooperative Professionals of Nigeria (ICOPRON), Seam fix and all stakeholders to treat implementation as a shared national responsibility.
AGROW initiative
In a welcome address, Permanent Secretary Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi said the digital infrastructure, beginning with the NCSR and CVN, will be the primary strategy for transparently delivering input subsidies, credit interventions and technical assistance directly to verified cooperators under the AGROW initiative.
