The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Seamfix Limited and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop and deploy the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR), a digital platform for registering and verifying Nigeria's cooperative societies and their members.
The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Abuja presided over by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi.
The initiative forms part of the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP 2030) and the Federal Government's efforts to modernise the cooperative sector.
The digital infrastructure will comprise the NCSR, the Cooperative Verification Number (CVN) for cooperative societies and the Cooperative Member Identification Number (CoopID), which links verified members to their National Identification Numbers (NIN).
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Most cooperative societies currently manage membership records manually, making verification difficult, slowing access to government support and limiting the sector's visibility within the formal economy.
Officials said the new system would improve transparency, strengthen regulatory coordination and make it easier to identify genuine cooperatives and their members.
Nigeria has more than 370,000 registered cooperative societies, with membership running into tens of millions across agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, housing, transport and finance.
Speaking at the ceremony, Abdullahi said the initiative would establish a trusted national framework for cooperative information while preserving the statutory responsibilities of federal, state and FCT cooperative authorities.
He said the platform would help improve the targeting of government interventions, reduce fraud and duplication, and strengthen financial inclusion, agricultural development and food security.
Seamfix Group CEO, Chimezie Emewulu, said the company was committed to providing the technology required to build the digital infrastructure.
He described the NCSR as more than a registration platform, saying it would connect cooperatives to formal systems that could support their growth and access to services.
Seamfix Executive Director and COO, Frank Atube, said the digital registry would address the long-standing challenge of fragmented cooperative records and manual identity verification.
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Under the agreement, FMAFS will provide policy direction and regulatory leadership, while state and FCT cooperative authorities will support implementation within their jurisdictions. CFN will lead stakeholder engagement and mobilisation, while Seamfix will provide the technology and infrastructure.
The government said the NCSR would ultimately create a more visible, trusted and inclusive cooperative sector capable of supporting economic growth, employment creation, agricultural development and financial inclusion.
