By Angela Atabo
Stakeholders have identified the cooperative society system as a viable solution for affordable housing in Nigeria.
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This was highlighted at the Cooperative Housing Conference 2025 (CHC2025), with the theme “Delivering Affordable Housing through Cooperatives” and the sub-theme “Digitalisation of Cooperative Housing Finance,” in Abuja.
Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, stated that cooperatives had the potential to mobilise resources, promote entrepreneurship, and improve the livelihoods of millions of Nigerians.
Abdullahi, represented by Victor Oyegoke, his Special Assistant on Cooperatives and Farmers’ Welfare, noted that the conference’s goal was to promote the large-scale delivery of decent and affordable housing to Nigerians through cooperatives.
“As we strive to deliver affordable housing through cooperatives, we must recognise the importance of creating an enabling environment that supports the growth and development of cooperatives.
“The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, where the Federal Department of Cooperatives that supervises and regulates the sector is domiciled, is committed to supporting cooperative development in Nigeria.
“We recognise the critical role that cooperatives play in promoting agricultural development and improving the livelihoods of farmers,” he said.
Abdullahi urged stakeholders to work together to develop practical solutions to advance cooperative housing development in Nigeria.
Bola Ajomale, Commissioner of Operations at the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), also spoke, emphasising that if more than 50 people pool their money into a collective scheme to generate a return, it fell under SEC’s purview.
“We want to look at it and ensure that what they are doing is right.
“This is because we want transparency. We encourage the cooperative industry to consider joining the capital market so that people can see what you are doing.”
Ajomale also reassured investors, saying, “SEC is determined to protect investors, and we will take action against anyone running an organisation that lacks good governance or is not self-accounting.”
Akintoye Adeoye, President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, urged Nigerians to leverage cooperative societies for homeownership.
“The cooperative system offers a promising solution to Nigeria’s housing challenges, enabling individuals to work together towards achieving affordable housing.
“The cheapest solution to affordable housing, food, and everything in this country today is the cooperative system,” he stated.
Dr Saheed Adelakun, Convener of the Cooperative Housing Conference and Founder of Nigeria Integrated Social Housing (NISH) Cooperative Limited, described cooperative housing as a form of self-help.
He explained that the conference would explore how cooperatives could catalyse the large-scale delivery of affordable housing.
“The strategic objective of the conference is to utilise cooperatives as special purpose vehicles for national economic development and delivering decent and affordable housing to Nigerians.
“We should also focus on creating digital platforms for aggregating savings, loans, payments, and finance for cooperative housing in Nigeria,” Adelakun stated.
Adelakun urged Nigerians to take advantage of the cooperatives and cooperators across the country to aggregate social capital and access finance and incentives provided by federal and state governments.
“The time is now for a digitally enabled Cooperative Housing Fund (CHF) to address the needs of Nigeria’s growing population,” he added.(NAN)
