Project Materials

THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES AND THE NIGERIA ECONOMY (A CASE STUDY OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN OREDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE)

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Cooperatives are a type of business organisation. Cooperatives have recently become increasingly important in West African countries. The origins of cooperative societies can be traced back to the Rochadale Pioneers of 1844.

It is likely that cooperative groups existed prior to 1844, but the Rockdale Pioneers of 1844 popularised the contemporary cooperative movement. The Rockdale had 28 members, most of them were wavers.

Their main purpose in forming an agricultural cooperative was to improve their standard of living at a period when people were undergoing economic difficulty (1844). This was more noticeable among legal income earners.

The Rockdale pioneers began by giving or subscribing a few pennies per wee; they eventually obtained 28 and opened a store on Toad Lane in Rockdale. They began tracing with minimal supplies of fairs, meals, and candles. Profits were dispersed to members in proportion to their purchases.

The Rockdale Cooperative was a consumer cooperative society. In Nigeria, the development of age-group organisations for teamwork and group financial aid among members for farm work, road construction, house erection, and social festivities marked the beginning of the cooperative movement.

The concept of cooperative societies was initially proposed in 1934 and February 1936. In the early days of cooperative societies in Nigeria, the legislative council passed the cooperative bill before the movement was officially started in the country; registration took place at the regional level. The word “Cooperative” could be used in two different ways;

a. Working together or “ready to help”.

b. An organized kind of business organization.

Cooperative is an old as mankind, for each other. Thus, this is particularly significant in all rural areas of the world. The herdsmen often take turns herding all livestock.

The collection and thrashing of each farmer’s harvest area is frequently carried out by all neighbours banding together to aid one another in a way that, while voluntary, is morally required by tradition in some nations.

This process is also used for skinning wells, building irrigation reservoirs and ditches, constructing dwellings and burying the deceased. Cooperatives are also considered a type of business organisation. Its introduction to industrial and business life in West Africa, and particularly in Nigeria’s rural areas, is new.

In today’s world, cooperatives are diverse and span many aspects of corporate operations. The importance of cooperative societies in Nigeria cannot be overstated.

The cooperative development in any place must be conditionally by its economic pattern Nigeria has an agrarian economy, and cooperatives were originally established in Nigeria.

Nigeria currently has a diverse range of cooperative societies. They are as follows./ agricultural products marketing societies, consumers, cooperative thrift and lending societies, cooperative craftsman’s societies and multi-purpose cooperative organisations. Some of these societies exist in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.

Cooperative society played a significant role by establishing a cooperative school where auditors and inspectors are being retained to audit and inspections the activities of various cooperative societies to avoid fraud, misappropriation and mal-administration.

In conclusion, even if cooperative society has not and cannot cover all facets of economic activity, it has covered the salient sections of the activities of the ordinary man, particularly the region under which they have been suffering.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

The major issues of cooperative societies include, among other things;

1. Insufficient financing.

2. Mismanaged resources by the management committee (board of directors)

3. Management committee that lacks qualifications and expertise

4. Uncommitted membership.

5. Lack of clear policy guideline on cooperatives

6. Outdated/inherited colonial cooperatives law that determines cooperative autonomy and officially recognised and operating cooperatives.

7. Government attitudes towards cooperative development.

8. A lack of infrastructural facilities such as consistent and steady electricity, accessible roads, pipe-borne water, etc.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The aims of this investigation as follow;

1. Identify the concepts and economic importance of cooperative societies in Edo State’s Oredo Local Government Area.

2. To define and trace the origins of cooperative societies in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State.

3. To identify the various types of cooperative organisations in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State.

4. Recognise the restrictions and potential solutions for cooperative societies in Edo State’s Oredo Local Government Area.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. In Edo State’s Oredo Local Government Area, the cooperative movement is expanding its reach into a variety of economic enterprises.

2. In Edo State’s Oredo Local Government Area, people have neglected the relevance of cooperative organisations due to a lack of education.

3. Cooperative societies are being utilised as a dumping ground for political politics.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research is limited to the Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. It investigates cooperative organisations in Oredo Local Government Area and how they have assisted the people in the area. This study will focus on producer cooperative organisations and consumer thrift cooperatives.

Significance of the Study

The study is significant because cooperative societies are vital in our country, and it is important to understand the role cooperative societies play in Oredo Local Government Area, as well as the importance cooperative societies play in the lives of the people of Oredo Local Government.

Definition of Terms

Society: What is society? A society or a human society is a group of people tied to each other by enduring relations or a big social grouping that shares some geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

Human societies are defined by patterns of relationship (social relations) between individuals who share a specific “culture” and institutions, and a given society can be defined as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members. In the “social sciences,” bigger societies frequently exhibit stratification and/or dominance patterns in subgroups.

A cooperative is a collection of people who work together to achieve its members’ mutual goals and aspirations while sharing ownership and making democratic decisions.

Cooperatives exist to create value for customers rather than to maximise profits for shareholders. This is what gives cooperatives their distinct character and influence. There are many cooperative enterprises in the globe, and the cooperative group is one of the largest.

An economy is made up of a country’s or other area’s economic systems, labour, capital, and land resources, as well as the manufacture, production, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services from that area.

A given economy is the outcome of a process that includes its technological evolution, history, and social organisation, as well as its geography, natural resource endowment, and ecology. These factors provide context, content, and establish the conditions and parameters under which an economy operates.