Omissions and contradictions in an African co‐operative experiment: The case of Nigeria
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230040407 |
| Date | 01 October 1984 |
| Published date | 01 October 1984 |
| Author | F. Ahwireng‐Obeng |
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 4,373-379 (1984)
Omissions and contradictions in an African co-operative
experiment: the case
of
Nigeria
F.
AHWIRENG-OBENG
University
of
Transkei
SUMMARY
This brief evaluation
of
the co-operative organizational apparatus
in
Nigeria examines three
aspects
of
a ‘co-operative ideology’; the basis of
the
co-operative idea;
the
form of economic
organization and the organizational structure. The analysis proceeds
in
the
framework of
the
‘entrepreneurial approach’ and concludes that such an ideology
must
reflect
among other
things, the economically inaltruistic and individualistic nature of human behaviour that
is
found
in
Nigerian traditional communities.
INTRODUCTION
In Nigeria, about
90
per cent of the total number of registered co-operatives are in
the agricultural sector. They include group-farming, multi-purpose co-operatives,
marketing and processing co-operatives, and credit, fisheries and livestock societies.
Co-operative activities vary considerably among the 19 states
of
the Federation as
they are influenced by the mode of agricultural production. Generally however,
where an export crop such as cocoa, cotton, groundnuts and palm-produce is
handled, a marketing co-operative is the most predominant type. Table
1
gives
statistics on the type, number and membership
of
rural co-operatives in Nigeria in
1981. It shows that in terms
of
the number of co-operatives, rural credit societies
accounted
for
42.8
per cent, marketing co-operatives for
23.6
per cent and group
farming co-operatives for 30.9 per cent. In all, the total membership of Nigerian co-
operatives represents less than
10
per cent of estimated membership coverage set by
government, an indication of
a
very low level
of
participation by the rural
community in co-operative activities.
The legal basis for the Nigerian co-operative organization was laid by the British
colonial government in 1935 with the enactment of the Co-operative Societies
Ordinance. The law provided for a Registrar
of
Co-operative Societies empowered
to register, audit, inspect, hold enquiries into, settle disputes between and, in the
case
of
failures, liquidate registered societies.
It
also bestowed on a registered society
the status
of
a
legal business body in its transactions with the general public. This
legal situation still exists.
In terms
of
organization, there has been a number of changes following each
politico-administrative restructuring of the country, resulting now in the
Dr.
F.
Ahwireng-Obeng is Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Transkei, Umtata,
Transkei, Southern Africa.
He
was formerly Lecturer, Department
of
Economics, University of Ife, Ile-
Ife, Nigeria,
West
Africa.
0271-2075/84/040373-07$01.00
0
1984
by
John Wiley
&
Sons,
Ltd
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