Project Materials

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF COOPERATIVES IN KADUNA STATE.

Background of the Study

Cooperatives are unique business organisations that run differently than other types of enterprises. The distributive character of cooperatives required that they be owned, used, and governed by their members. Â Cooperatives are classified as large or small, multipurpose or single purpose, and centralised or federal. All of these mechanisms are directly coordinated and supervised by the cooperative federation.

According to Yahaya (2001), a cooperative federation consists of basic units at each level that make decisions independently. The federation, a higher organ, and secondary societies, which are lower organs, have a dividing line where the lower organs reserve certain functions and delegate others to the higher organs.

The cooperative federation regulates cooperative activities to ensure efficiency, but associated societies maintain autonomy.

In Nigeria, where cooperative development is primarily a state concern, cooperatives are organised into three levels based on geographical location: village or town level (primary cooperatives), state or regional level (secondary cooperatives), and national level (tertiary cooperatives).

Cooperative Federation Limited oversees cooperative activity in several states, including Kaduna, in northern Nigeria.

Cooperatives in many states, especially in the former western and eastern regions, are governed by a central organisation known as the cooperative union.

However, there are a number of tertiary cooperative organisations that also serve key roles and represent Nigerian cooperative movements on an international and regional scale. Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN) is affiliated with International Cooperative Alliance (ZCA)

while National Association of Cooperative Credit Union of Nigeria (NACCUN) is affiliated with African Cooperative Credit and Savings Association (ACOSCA) and World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCUN).

The establishment of cooperative federations in each state in the country reflects what was achieved in the early cooperative movement in Britain.

In 1844, the first successful consumer retail cooperative groups formed a nationwide federation called the Cooperative Wholesale Society and the Cooperative Union Ltd.

Similarly, the Irish agricultural wholesale society, often known as CWS, is the principal organisation established by retail cooperative societies in the United Kingdom to address trading demands.

Other significant countries have comparable central controlling agencies for cooperative operations. In Israel, Hevaratt Ovdim, a Jewish cooperative society, supervises the activities of its associated cooperatives.

In Denmark, the Danish wholesale society (FDB) created in 1964 reached a voluntary agreement with local cooperation to generate a claim. The FDB agreed to provide a variety of services to local cooperatives in order to support their survival and progress.

Nigeria’s example is not unique in terms of the establishment of a central working body to oversee the activities of cooperative organisations.

The Kaduna State Cooperative Federation, like other state federations, supervises cooperative activities under the auspices of the state Ministry of Agriculture.

It should be noted, however, that in different states, different names are given to ministries where cooperative federations exist. Whatever their names, such ministries have duties for cooperatives and, of course, cooperative federations.