The Federal Government has partnered with Seamfix Limited and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria to launch the National Cooperative Smart Registry, a digital platform designed to formalise Nigeria’s cooperative sector, verify members and improve access to government interventions.
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 combined membership running into tens of millions. The cooperatives operate across agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, housing, transport, finance and other sectors.
Despite the size of the sector, many cooperative societies still rely on manual systems to maintain membership records. The government said this creates difficulties in verifying genuine members, determining the actual size of the cooperative sector and ensuring that government programmes reach intended beneficiaries.
The new National Cooperative Smart Registry will provide a central digital system for registering and verifying cooperative societies and their members. It will also link individual cooperative members to their National Identification Numbers (NINs).
The framework will introduce a Cooperative Verification Number for registered cooperative societies and a Cooperative Member Identification Number (CoopID) for individual members.
The CoopID will connect verified cooperative members directly to their NINs, creating a digital record of each member’s identity and status within the cooperative system.
The government clarified that the registry will not replace the statutory registration and regulatory responsibilities of the Federal Department of Cooperatives or cooperative authorities in the states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Instead, it will serve as shared digital infrastructure for verifying and linking cooperative information across the country.
The initiative is expected to reduce fraud and duplication, strengthen regulatory coordination and provide more reliable data for government planning, investment decisions and economic interventions.
Digitising cooperative records could also improve access to financing and government support by making legitimate cooperative societies and their members 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 preserving the regulatory authority of existing institutions.
He said the system would 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, while state and FCT cooperative authorities will participate in implementation within their respective jurisdictions.
The Cooperative Federation of Nigeria will lead stakeholder engagement, sensitisation and mobilisation across the cooperative movement, while Seamfix will provide the technology and infrastructure required to deploy and operate the registry.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Seamfix, Chimezie Emewulu, said the registry would provide the digital foundation needed 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 had left many cooperative societies dependent on manual processes, making it difficult to identify beneficiaries and effectively deliver government interventions.
He explained that the Cooperative Verification Number would give registered cooperative 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 operates in six African markets and said it has managed more than 350 million identities.
For millions of Nigerians who depend on cooperatives for access to finance, agricultural support, business opportunities and economic empowerment, the National Cooperative Smart Registry is expected to bring greater visibility and credibility to the sector.
By creating reliable digital records for cooperative societies and their members, the initiative is expected to make it easier for genuine cooperatives to access financing, government programmes and other economic opportunities while giving the government a clearer picture of one of the country’s largest grassroots economic networks.
