ABUJA – The National Association of Co-operative Credit Unions of Nigeria Ltd. has urged the Federal Government to upgrade the Federal Department of Co-operatives to either a ministry or commission to achieve its mandate.
This is contained in a statement by its Executive Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Atama, and made available to newsmen on Friday in Abuja.
He said the cooperative movement in Nigeria had wanted the Federal Department of Co-operatives to be upgraded to a full-fledged ministry as it was done in Kenya.
Atama said it could also be converted to a commission if the former was not possible.
“It could be made like the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with good budgetary allocation to enable it to deliver its mandates,’’ it said.
He said the upgrade had become necessary since virtually all government development efforts were targeted towards the use of the co-operative enterprise for service delivery to the ordinary people.
Atama said the Ministry of Labour and Productivity had announced that the department, under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, had been shifted to labour ministry.
The Executive-Secretary said the co-operative movement in Nigeria did not support the development as the association was not expecting such shift but an upgrade.
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Atama said such relocation of the department would not assist the ongoing transformation agenda and re-engineering across the country.
According to him, the department has so far put smiles on the faces of co-operators under agriculture ministry.
“The co-operative movement in Nigeria is watching developments with keen interest and that any attempt to cause a shift as announced shall be resisted.
“It shall not receive the support and blessing of the cooperative movement.
“After due consultation with relevant stakeholders within the co-operative movement, including the Co-operative Federation of Nigeria, it is clear that such move has no support,’’ he said. (NAN)
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