Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Commerce, Cooperative, Trade and Investment Met cooperative Stakeholders in Lagos State.
The Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investments, Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem met with cooperators in the first townhall meeting of stakeholders for the year 2024.
Being her first official visit to LASCOFED Secretariat since assuming office as the commissioner, Mrs. Ambrose Medebem was received by members of the President-in-Council of Lagos State Cooperative Federation (LASCOFED) led by the President, Barrister Oladipo Shobule.
The Honorable Commissioner in her address to over 600 cooperators from various cooperative societies across the state posited that cooperative societies no doubt plays vital roles in the socio-economic dynamics of Lagos state and is regarded as a machinery for poverty alleviation. Therefore, the government places high premium on cooperatives as partners in progress and drivers of dividend of democracy to the populace. She encouraged the cooperative leaders across Lagos state to continue to scale up and impact their members.
As a way of ensuring that cooperatives continue to deliver quality services to members, Hon. Ambrose-Medebem highlighted the following as expectations of the ministry from cooperative leaders.
Timely Rendition of Annual Account: The Annual Accounts of societies’ previous financial year is expected to be submitted to the Area Office between January and February of the succeeding year, so that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) can be held latest 2nd quarter of the year.
Tenure Elongation: The tenure of executive as stated in the cooperative society’s byelaw should be adhered to and no executive is entitled to more than 2 terms in a particular position.
Cooperative Insurance Scheme: All cooperative societies are expected to insure the loans given to members with a consortium of insurance companies led by LASACO Assurance Plc paying a premium 1% of the loan granted.
Abuse of the Maximum Credit Limit: Cooperative leaders were advised to stick to the rule on maximum credit limit. Any approval of loan in excess of two times of a members’ savings is an abuse she reiterated.
Fraud/Misappropriation: Honorable Commissioner emphasized that the Ministry of Commerce, Cooperative, Trade and Investments has zero tolerance to fraud and misappropriation. She encouraged all the leaders of cooperative societies to strictly adhere to the cooperative laws and to think proactively on identifying and mitigating the risks involved in their operations in order not to set themselves up for litigations.
Digitization of Cooperative Operations: Cooperative Leaders were encouraged to digitize their operations to enhance efficiency.
She promised that the ministry will work with LASCOFED to ensure prompt and efficient service delivery to cooperators.
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