The Federal Government has begun a nationwide six-month revalidation and re-certification exercise for all cooperative societies and signed an agreement to introduce a national digital identity and governance platform for the sector.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Wednesday in Abuja by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, on behalf of the ministry. The partners are the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN) and Seamfix Limited. The signing took place on the second day of the National Technical Workshop on Cooperative Sector Digitalisation.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, described the deal as a major advance in visibility, accountability and digital governance. He said it marks the shift “from demonstration to implementation” under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform & Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP 2030).
Under the exercise, every existing cooperative society must approach its State Department of Cooperatives for verification of registration records. Successful societies will be enrolled on the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR) and issued a Cooperative Verification Number (CVN). Members will later receive Cooperative Member Identification Numbers (CoopID).
These tools form the core of the National Cooperative Digital Architecture Platform (NCDAP). The system is designed to identify genuine cooperatives and members, track beneficiaries of government support, measure impact, and serve as a trusted credential for access to interventions, bank loans, contracts and partnerships. It will also integrate with CoopCHECK, a cooperative credit bureau, to improve credit profiling.
Abdullahi stressed that the platform will include USSD and feature-phone access so rural cooperators are not excluded. He said digital verification will strengthen enforcement of Section 54 of the Cooperative Societies Act against illegal use of the name “Co-operative.”
The minister directed the harmonisation of reviews of the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act to produce a new bill that recognises digital registration, electronic records, digital identity, data governance and fintech. He linked the identity infrastructure to the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, saying the verified data will support responsible lending and financial inclusion.
Seamfix Executive Director and Group Chief Operating Officer Frank Atube said the CVN will give every registered society a verifiable national identity, while the CoopID will provide individual identities linked to societies and the National Identity Infrastructure. The company, which has managed about 350 million identities across six markets, will deploy and support the initial phase. A pilot covering all six geopolitical zones will begin first.
Ogunbiyi said the ministry will provide institutional coordination while State Directors of Cooperatives implement the tools in the field. The project aims to create a nationwide cooperative identity and digital trust ecosystem.
The initiative operates under a Public-Private-People Partnership model. Stakeholders from government, cooperative organisations and technology partners attended the workshop.
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