The Federal Government has entered into a partnership with Seamfix Limited and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria to create and deploy a national digital registry designed to formalise Nigeria’s cooperative sector and strengthen the management of cooperative societies and their members.

Known as the National Cooperative Smart Registry, the platform will serve as a central digital system for registering and verifying cooperative societies, while linking individual members to their National Identification Numbers (NINs).

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Abuja on August 12, 2026, by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Seamfix and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria under the government’s Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme.

Nigeria has more than 370,000 registered cooperative societies, with their combined membership estimated in the tens of millions. The organisations operate across sectors including agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, housing, transport and finance.

Despite the scale of the sector, many cooperative societies continue to depend on manual processes for maintaining membership records. According to the government, this creates challenges in verifying genuine members, establishing the sector’s actual size and ensuring government interventions reach the intended beneficiaries.

The planned digital infrastructure will consist of the National Cooperative Smart Registry, a Cooperative Verification Number for registered societies and a Cooperative Member Identification Number for individual members.

The Cooperative Member Identification Number, referred to as CoopID, will connect verified cooperative members directly to their NINs. This will create a digital record establishing each member’s identity and status within the cooperative system.

The government clarified that the registry will not take over the statutory registration and regulatory functions of the Federal Department of Cooperatives or cooperative authorities in the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Instead, the digital system will serve as shared infrastructure through which cooperative information can be verified and linked across the country.

The initiative is expected to strengthen regulatory coordination, minimise fraud and duplication, and generate more dependable data for government planning, investment decisions and the implementation of economic interventions.

Digitising cooperative records could also strengthen access to financing and government support by making legitimate cooperatives and their membership structures more visible within the formal economy.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Aliyu Abdullahi, said the initiative would create a trusted framework for verified cooperative information while maintaining the regulatory authority of existing institutions.

He said the system would also improve the targeting of government programmes by making legitimate cooperative societies and their members easier to identify.

Under the agreement, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security will provide national policy direction and regulatory leadership. State and FCT cooperative authorities will participate in implementing the initiative within their respective jurisdictions.

The Cooperative Federation of Nigeria will lead stakeholder engagement, sensitisation and mobilisation across the cooperative movement, while Seamfix will supply the technology and infrastructure needed to deploy and operate the registry.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of Seamfix, Chimezie Emewulu, said the registry would provide the digital foundation required to connect cooperative societies with systems that can support their growth and participation in the wider economy.

“At Seamfix, we believe that identity is not a privilege; it is a right,” Emewulu said.

The Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Seamfix, Frank Atube, said the lack of a unified digital system for cooperative records had resulted in significant reliance on manual processes across the sector. He said this had made it more difficult to identify beneficiaries and effectively deliver government interventions.

Atube explained that the Cooperative Verification Number would give registered societies a verified digital identity, while the CoopID would link individual cooperative members to their NINs.

Seamfix said it has more than a decade of experience in digital identity and verification and has supported the enrolment of more than 130 million Nigerians in partnership with the National Identity Management Commission.

The company also operates in six African markets and said it has managed more than 350 million identities.

For Nigeria’s cooperative sector, the National Cooperative Smart Registry is expected to provide a stronger foundation for financial inclusion, agricultural development, food security and employment creation.

By establishing reliable digital records for cooperative societies and their members, the initiative is expected to improve visibility across the sector and make it easier for legitimate cooperatives to access financing, government programmes and other economic opportunities.

Source: MSME Africa Online