Fuel subsidy removal: Cooperative groups should assist Nigerians reduce hunger, suffering-Atama,President ACF.

The Abuja Cooperative federation has come a long way. Can you tell the nation how many cooperative associations are affiliated with you and your total membership strength?

Our constituency is defined by the Cooperative Societies Act 2004, CAP 98 LFN. The Act defines a federation as either national or state. We have one national cooperative federation which is the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria. The 36 states and the FCT have their own federations each. This means that all the registered cooperative societies in the FCT belong to our federation, whether directly or indirectly affiliated. The director of operations will be in a better position to tell you how many of the cooperative societies are active but there ate more than 29,000 active groups in the territory.

Have all the associations been meeting up with their obligations of membership to the federation to earn the right of membership?

The are trying their best and this is why we on our part are working assiduously to ensure that the rights and obligations of members are duly respected.

Are there private sector cooperatives in your federation or are they mainly civil service cooperative groups?

It is a mixed grill of both private, public sector workers, faith-based organisations, cultural and tribal groups including women. People from all walks of life are part of what we are doing.

In your opinion as a stakeholder, how would you define what is happening today economically in the nation. What can cooperative societies do to help Nigerians effortlessly navigate through this period?

The essence of cooperatives is to provide succour and soft landing for numbers. In times like what we have now, the cooperatives are challenged to deliver on their mandate. This is why after feeling the impulse of our members and how threatening the situation on ground, we took immediate steps to create soft landing for members. Part of the steps are in the areas of food security because even before the subsidy removal, we had some challenges in the country where hunger, poverty, suffering and hardship were rising and to ensure that the disposable income of members can be properly used, we activated our food security programme which was the cooperative family feeding programme. So, during the celebration of the last International Day of Cooperatives, we fully achieved the scheme land provided food worth about N100, 000 to members with an additional incentive that gave them the advantage of paying back the amount in three months. We believe that if Nigerians have enough food to last two or three months, the pay back ratio will be about 20% or 30% of their monthly income. This means that the balance of the income will be available to help them meet other obligations such as transporting themselves to and from work. This has been one of the strategic ways we adopted to ameliorate the suffering of members. We also believe that through our consumption pattern, we at already achieving the UN SDG 1 programme which deals with eliminating extreme  hunger and poverty, in the area of poverty, we believe that when farmers are sure that people will buy their food items, then it will encourage them to farm more. Also, processing will be activated as well as storage methods will equally be activated as well as transportation and distribution processes and everybody will feel the positive impact of the programme. So, we believe that strategically, this problem cannot be solved by adding money to salaries because any salary increase now, will worsen the situation and will not make any positive impact but food security will make more money available to bread winners for their families.

Do you think that the present administration really assessed the implications of removing the fuel subsidy before doing so?

I do not thing the administration should be blamed entirely for the present situation. The arrangement for subsidy removal was started by the immediate past government which told Nigerians that the subsidy will end in June. What I think the present administration did wrongly was not to have waited for June to end before removing the subsidy.

The hasty removal of the subsidy was wrong. What we as Nigerians need to do now is to avoid blame game. We are all involved and this was why we have taken the bold strategic step to find solutions to the impending hunger. Government should properly channel the savings made from the subsidy removal to productive sectors where it will benefit Nigerians and reduce suffering.

We understand the funds will now he deployed to the agricultural sector, provision of imputes among other as. If there is anything that Nigerians are complaining about, it is the N500billion colossal amount that members of the National Assembly have allocated to themselves from the palliative fund. Since the National Assembly members are representing the people, I think they should listen to the voice of the people and leave the money alone. Members have enough allowance and do not need to tamper with the funds that ate meant for the suffering masses of this country. The National Assembly members should not be selfish enough to ever touch the palliative money. The action that government needs to take is to ensure that farmers are properly empowered with modern farm equipment and chemicals. Traders also do not have access to MSME loans and should be assisted.

We are not in support of sharing N8,000 to people. Rather, we are in support of of making funds available to business men and women, farmers who will increase agricultural yields and small-scale industries so that businesses can boom because when businesses do well, and are booming, complaints will be reduced. Government should provide soft loans to people for for produced five a sectors like commercial activities, drivers should also be covered and given loans tho buy vehicles because many of them com plain now that after buying fuel, nothing remains to take home.

Has government ever incorporated the cooperative societies into its palliative programmes and will you be happy to be so incorporated?

We have moved a step ahead because as at last week,yes  directors of cooperative societies from the 36 states met to discuss how the palliative matter can be properly channeled and we have approached the government to make our positions known. Cooperatives have over 30 million members across the 36 states of the federation and it is only proper that our numbers should be considered and the cooperative federations included in any plans or programmes for palliative as distribution so that it gets to the grassroots. Among the 30 million members of the cooperatives, each member has about 10 or 20 dependents to cater for. So, we have made our position known and we are hoping it will produce positive results. We strongly believe that this government is a listening one and we have no reason so far to doubt the integrity of the government OE its determination to ameliorate the suffering of the masses. We believe that often, hard times result into positive changes because before the gold becomes refined, it passes through the hot furnace. So, Nigeria is now in a phase of hope and quoting the Mr. president, “It is renewed hope” for the better. So, all we need to do as Nigerians is not to start casting aspersions or castigating the leaders. Rather, we should all be involved in the nationalistic move to make Nigeria a much better place to live.

Palliatives have become controversial matters in the country. Do you think the present administration will handle its palliative programme better than the past administration?

There is a saying that once beaten, twice shy. There is more awareness, watchfulness and vigilance among Nigerians now than in the past. Even our political leaders know that it is not going to be business as usual and they must be very careful. They know that they cannot get away with any funny actions again. I expect that Nigerians will be watchful and track every activity related to the palliatives programme.

What would you advise your members to do about adjusting to the realities of the moment?

Cooperatives are about self help. It is about taking responsibility for oneself. So, as a cooperator, what should be uppermost in our minds now the decision to help ourselves economically by saving towards the rainy day among others. We encourage cooperatives to ensure that none of their members are left behind and we also believe that self help leads to self actualisation. I commend our affiliate cooperative for being resolute in paying their dues and levies. Majority of our funding comes from affiliates cooperatives. About 10% come from partners and well-wishers as donations while the last percentage comes from some of the activities we engage in to generate revenue. We are working hard to provide support and tentacles for them to make their work easier and more result oriented.

What efforts have you put in place to improve the experience of cooperative society members lately?

We have embraced technology. At the moment, our members have online platforms where relevant information, knowledge and ideas are passed to them as quickly as possible. Technology has also made the work and activities of cooperative societies more seamless and transparent. We are improving by providing real-time access to members. We have also introduced the direct debit system into payments to reassure members that their remittances are safe and secure, thereby eliminating delayed remittances.

What advise would you give to Mr. President on how to improve governance and democracy in the country?

I am happy Mr. President comes from a section of the country where cooperative activities are well practiced. Cooperative is about the spirit of cooperation. I will advise him to take the cooperative direction. In Kenya, where cooperative initiatives have bloomed so much, even the President of Kenya belongs to a cooperative society. Almost every adult in Kenya is a member of a cooperative group. This has ensured proper savings mobilisation and adequate channeling to productive purposes to meet people’s needs.  Societal challenges can be minimised and properly addressed when savings are properly channeled. So, we are appealing to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to become a cooperative ambassador by enrolling into a cooperative society and also by compelling members of the legislative, as well as judicial arms of government and member as of his cabinet to take-up membership of cooperative societies.

The government should also sanitise the activities of cooperatives by improving on the laws guiding their operations and practice of cooperatives in the country. Some of the policies are moribund. The last policy amendment took place in 2002 and the laws needs to be revised to meet the challenges of present day realities. We also want a National Cooperative Commission of Nigeria to be setup and branches established in states to provide proper regulation of the practice of cooperatives.