Project Materials

ASSESSMENTS OF THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION.

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

Since the dawn of humanity, man has been fighting to free himself from the shackling condition of life known as poverty. Consider the following scenario.

A. A homeless person is begging for money at Public Park to buy food from a nearby food stand.

B. A young university-trained professional lost her job a few months ago, and her bills are piling up because she is still working.

C. An investor cannot pay his children’s school tuition this semester because his predicted investment earnings did not materialise.

D. A millionaire must take tranquillizers every night because he cannot sleep without them.

Which of the following four people do you believe to be poor? A is both financially disadvantaged and socially deprived. B may not be socially deprived.

She is well-educated but has a low salary, and she is unemployed. C is cash poor, but only for a short period, as he can convert his investment into cash if needed.

D is not poor by monetary measures, but he is spiritually impoverished because money cannot buy him a good night’s sleep.

In general, discussions of poverty as a socioeconomic issue are primarily limited to the scenarios described in A and B above. However, cooperatives, which pride themselves on being “enterprises” with a spirit, will target all four scenarios.

Poverty can be difficult to define and measure. It varies from location to place and over time. Poverty is a state of life characterised by sickness, illiteracy, and starvation that denies basic human needs.

It is thus difficult to provide a specific definition of poverty. However, the poor society is characterised by its economic, cultural, social, and psychological conditions.

In order to combat this chronic sickness (poverty), the fundamental issues of development should be recast as a targeted attack on the most severe forms of poverty.

Malnutrition, illnesses, illiteracy, unemployment, and inequality must be gradually reduced, if not eliminated, as development goals. Once again, the link between poverty and progress is evident.

Where there is widespread poverty, there is little or no development. After all, the development process itself is focused towards the eradication of poverty and injustice in order to provide a better life for humanity.

Cooperative societies exist primarily to alleviate poverty among people because the purpose of incorporating the society is to meet the common felt needs of the members and the general public in terms of social and economic needs as well as cultural aspirations of the individual, thereby complementing the government’s efforts to alleviate poverty in society.

Cooperatives are designed to receive policies aimed at eliminating poverty in society by improving the economic, cultural, social, and psychological conditions of both members and the general public.

Cooperatives have worked over the years to improve the living conditions of the society’s poorest members. Thus, the importance of cooperatives in poverty alleviation cannot be overstated; it can be summarised in the following lines:

a. Cooperatives help the underprivileged in society to save small sums of money in order to handle difficulties more easily.

b. Cooperatives create/open up feasible avenues for the less privileged to benefit from government and other forms of credit outside of their places of employment in order to solve urgent problems and benefit others.

c. Stimulating economic growth by including semi-skilled and unskilled workers in productive activities.

d. Reducing rural-urban drift by improving rural communities.

c. Empowering the environment to prevent environmental deregulation.

Programme activities and initiatives to meet cooperatives’ objectives for poverty eradication include.

a. Cooperatives are attempting to minimise the increasing rate of poverty by providing goods and services at lower prices that the average man can afford.

c. Cooperatives help to prevent the exploitation of those with less privilege. By organising workshops/seminars to educate underdeveloped areas in terms of education, inadequate health centres, and inadequate companies to work for their daily salaries in order to improve their lives and lower the rate of poverty in society.

c. Empowering women and men to make decisions that impact their life and allow them to develop their skills and advantages.

1.1 Background of the Study

Nigeria, like other developing countries, has done a lot to improve its residents’ living standards by providing jobs, shelter, food supply, basic infrastructure, a good education system, and a suitable political and socioeconomic climate.

Poverty is the most terrifying of all these deep-rooted social and economic ills because it has the ability to learn all aspects of social fabric and values. As a result, no poverty-reduction efforts can be enhanced.

Since independence, Nigeria has struggled to reduce poverty among its citizens. In this regard, programs and agencies. And a mission was devised, implemented, and established to combat this heinous problem or hydro-headed monster (poverty).

We are all aware of the concepts that underpin regional areas such as Northern Nigeria Development Cooperation (NNDC), Western Nigeria Development Cooperation (WNDC), and Eastern Nigeria Development Cooperation.

All of these collaborations were established with the goal of providing soft loans to the individual regions for developmental projects and other job possibilities from the federal government and limited sources in their respective regional territories.

Mr. Strickland’s feasibility analysis in his 1933 report led to the establishment of cooperative organisations in Nigeria, as the Nigerian government recognised the importance of cooperatives.

This led to the foundation of a cooperative. Despite all of this cooperation, agencies and organisations have proven to be extremely effective in eliminating poverty in our society.