By KENNETH DARENG
COOPERATIVE societies in Plateau State have over the years witnessed changes and transformation, having evolved from mere associations of few individuals to modern-day business enterprises.
Plateau State alone can boast of over 2 million members scattered across different organisations and communities – with a very strong capital base worth several millions of naira in both liquidity and assets.
Viewed against this background, a genuine cooperative can be identified through certain characteristics, as explained by Professor Likita Ogba. He featured recently as Guest Speaker at a one-day workshop organized by the Plateau State Cooperative Federation, PLASCOFED, held at the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences hall, Tudun Wada, Jos.
He said, “Cooperatives as an autonomous body must be free from government or external control or domination in order to allow members to own and take decisions that would help promote the welfare of their members.”
Accordingly, the objectives of the group must be geared towards meeting members’ economic, social and cultural aspirations. These can be achieved through ensuring that the enterprise is owned as a partnership while the benefits must be shared based on the equity contribution of each member.
However, the values of every cooperative movement should be deeply rooted in members’ social ideologies and religious belief systems which have metamorphosed over the ages. It is therefore necessary to point out that in every cooperative society, members do not have to wait for government or other external pressures to solve its immediate problems.
In the same vein, the cooperative movement must value the principle of equality by treating all members as equal partners without recourse to any form of discrimination based on sex, race, religion, political class, financial position or power.
The need to also ensure equity cannot be over emphasized. This is because if members are not rewarded based on their participation, it can be counter-productive. Which means that no member should gain at the expense of another. In the same vein, employees, suppliers, creditors, even non-members and customers should be treated with respect and dignity through giving each an operational opportunity to express their God-given abilities.
It is worthy of note that cooperative societies should be based on democratic principles. This also means that they should operate on the basis of free decision making. This value is opposed to autocracy and dictatorship.
It is important to note that no cooperative movement can make any meaningful progress if members do not demonstrate solidarity with each other. According to Professor Ogba, members must strive to meet each other’s needs. This means ensuring unity which must be anchored on mutuality, independence, community and love. He captured it thus: “All for each and each for all.”
The members and officials of cooperative societies are expected to be honest and dedicated to duty and welfare of members. They should also be morally bound to avoid dishonesty, secrecy, anti-social behaviors and selfishness in all of their dealings with each other. As a guiding principle, cooperatives are expected to display openness by regularly briefing members and forwarding relevant information on their operations and performance to the public and government.
Besides inspiring themselves through meeting their obligations through the attainment of their social corporate responsibility within various communities, cooperative societies in Plateau State, under the umbrella of PLASCOFED, are working with both government and private organizations towards enhancing economic growth and development in the state.
As part of that engagement, the Plateau State Government has expressed it desire to commence a pilot program for a massive production and processing of Irish potatoes and a variety of grains for both domestic consumption and export as part of its economic blueprint for the state.
The Plateau State Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Musa Sule, made the disclosure when he declared open the PLASCOFED workshop.
According to Sule, the present socio-economic challenges facing the country required a change of approach in order to take the nation out of the woods, noting that cooperative societies can serve as the right economic compass for growth and societal development.
He emphasized the need for concerted efforts to be made to make the cooperative movement a platform for initiating economic policies that would add value to the policies and programs being implemented by the Mutfwwang administration for the overall benefit of citizens.
He assured that the Plateau State Government would support cooperative societies to become a driving force for pushing forward the proposed massive grain production in order to boost the revenue base of the state and open the space for investment and wealth creation.
As members of the various cooperative societies came together to share their common ideals and expectations, the need to also understand the concepts that would shape their thoughts on the purpose, objectives, benefits, limitations, operations, finances and other plans for a better future under the watch of PLASCOFED was underscored.
