.sign MoU on deployment of Nat’l coops identity, others

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – The Federal Government, Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, CFN, and Seamfix Limited, Wednesday, moved to commence a six-month National Revalidation and Re-certification Exercise for all existing cooperatives across the country.

The announcement was made at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between the Federal Government, CFN and Seamfix Limited on the deployment of Nigeria’s National Cooperative Identity, Trust and Digital Governance Infrastructure.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi of the Ministry signed for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on the second day of the National Technical Workshop on Cooperative Sector Digitalization in Abuja.

Meanwhile, under the revalidation exercise, all existing cooperatives are to approach their respective State Departments of Cooperatives for verification and authentication of their registration records. Following successful revalidation, cooperatives will be onboarded onto the National Cooperative Smart Registry, NCSR, and issued a Cooperative Verification Number, CVN, while their members will progressively receive the Cooperative Member Identification Number, CoopID.

At the heart of the new infrastructure are the NCSR, CVN and CoopID, which form the foundation of the National Cooperative Digital Architecture Platform, NCDAP. The objective is “One genuine cooperative. One verifiable CVN. One cooperative member. One verifiable CoopID.”

In a remark, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and the Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Abdullahi said that the agreement marks “the beginning of a new era of visibility, trust, accountability and digital governance” for Nigeria’s cooperative ecosystem and represents the shift “from demonstration to implementation” under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform & Revamp Programme, RH-CRRP 2030.

Dr Abdullahi also charged State Directors of Cooperatives as “frontline regulators and implementers” and urged CFN and ICOPRON to mobilize the movement for effective adoption.

The Minister explained that the system is designed to close decades of identity and data gaps. With it, government will be able to identify genuine cooperatives, track interventions, and measure impact.

“We should be able to know who receives government support, where they are located and what impact that support is making”, he said.

A verified CVN will also serve as a trusted credential for cooperatives to access government interventions, bank loans, contracts, and partnerships.

According to him, the platform will integrate with CoopCHECK, a cooperative credit bureau, to improve credit profiling and lending, and will extend access beyond smartphones to USSD and feature phones to ensure inclusion for cooperators in rural communities.

He added that digital verification will strengthen compliance and enforcement of Section 54 of the Cooperative Societies Act against illegal use of the “Co-operative” name. “Genuine cooperatives have nothing to fear from visibility and verification,” he stated.

The Minister also directed the harmonization of all ongoing reviews of the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act towards producing a harmonized new Cooperative Societies Bill for full repeal and re-enactment.

The new Bill will explicitly recognize digital registration, electronic records, identity, data governance and financial technology.

He stated that the Ministry will work with the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, the National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and other relevant stakeholders to deliver a modern Cooperative Societies Act that supports a digital, inclusive and accountable cooperative economy.

He also expressed optimism that the reform will provide clarity on registration, governance, reporting, supervision, audit and sanctions, and align with the national identity and financial system architecture. It will also enable interoperability with credit bureaus and fintech platforms while protecting members’ data and rights.

The Minister further linked the digital infrastructure to the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, CoopBank, noting that NCSR, CVN, CoopID and CoopCHECK will provide the identity and data required for responsible lending and financial inclusion.

“From fragmentation to visibility. From anonymity to verification. From exclusion to financial inclusion. The destination is shared prosperity”, he said.

According to him, the MoU was executed under the Public-Private-People Partnership, 4Ps, model of RH-CRRP 2030, and he explained that the system is designed to close decades of identity and data gaps, and with it, government will be able to identify genuine cooperatives, track interventions, and measure impact.

“We should be able to know who receives government support, where they are located and what impact that support is making”, he said.

A verified CVN will also serve as a trusted credential for cooperatives to access government interventions, bank loans, contracts, and partnerships.

According to him, the platform will integrate with CoopCHECK, a cooperative credit bureau, to improve credit profiling and lending, and will extend access beyond smartphones to USSD and feature phones to ensure inclusion for cooperators in rural communities.

He added that digital verification will strengthen compliance and enforcement of Section 54 of the Cooperative Societies Act against illegal use of the “Co-operative” name. “Genuine cooperatives have nothing to fear from visibility and verification”, he stated.

The Minister also directed the harmonization of all ongoing reviews of the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act towards producing a harmonized new Cooperative Societies Bill for full repeal and re-enactment. The new Bill will explicitly recognize digital registration, electronic records, identity, data governance and financial technology.

He stated that the Ministry will work with the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, the National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and other relevant stakeholders to deliver a modern Cooperative Societies Act that supports a digital, inclusive and accountable cooperative economy.

He emphasized that the reform will provide clarity on registration, governance, reporting, supervision, audit and sanctions, and align with the national identity and financial system architecture. It will also enable interoperability with credit bureaus and fintech platforms while protecting members’ data and rights.

The Minister further linked the digital infrastructure to the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, CoopBank, noting that NCSR, CVN, CoopID and CoopCHECK will provide the identity and data required for responsible lending and financial inclusion.

“From fragmentation to visibility. From anonymity to verification. From exclusion to financial inclusion. The destination is shared prosperity,” he added.

In a welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi stated that “Through this MoU we are building the technical backbone for two critical systems, as mentioned yesterday, which are: The National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR) to streamline platform to handle registration, searches, and administrative workflows across federal and state levels as well as; The Cooperative Verification Number (CVN) & CoopID, which offer secure identity system and a unique digital footprint for cooperative societies and their members.”

Dr. Ogunbiyi revealed that, ‘’Subject to the terms and conditions of this MoU, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security will provide institutional coordination and stakeholder engagement support reasonably required for implementation of the Programme.

“While Seamfix shall deploy, operate, maintain, and support the initial phase of the Programme covering cooperative society registration, validation, and identity administration; cooperative member registration, onboarding, and identity enrollment; deployment of cooperative identity and registry infrastructure. The State Directors of cooperatives are the operators who will implement these tools in the field.”

He added that, “the Project will eventually establish a nationwide cooperative identity and digital trust ecosystem supporting cooperative registration, identity assurance, verification, operational governance, and related digital enablement initiatives within the cooperative sector.”

In his remarks, Executive Director and Group COO of Seamfix Limited, Frank Atube, said that, “Through the Cooperative Verification Number, the CVN, every registered society gets a verified national identity. It can be queried. It can be trusted.

“And through the CoopID, every cooperator gets their own identity, linked to their society and integrated with the National Identity Infrastructure. Cooperative to CVN. Member to CoopID that ecosystem opens doors: to government programmes, to regulatory support, to development partnerships, and to a trusted data foundation for institutions like the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria to lend to cooperatives that have earned it.

“We will begin with a pilot across all six geopolitical zones, because we respect the diversity of this country. What works in Lagos must also work in Kebbi.

“Seamfix has spent over a decade building national scale identity infrastructure across Nigeria and Africa. Six markets. 350 million identities managed. We have done this before, and we are doing it again. And we believe that identity is a right, not a privilege. That is not a tagline; it is the reason this company exists.”