FG, Seamfix partner to digitise cooperative sector

The Federal Government has partnered with Seamfix Limited and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria to create a digital registry for Nigeria's cooperative sector. This initiative, called the National Cooperative Smart Registry, will form a centralized digital platform to register and authenticate cooperative societies and their members.

Seamfix announced the Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony in Abuja on August 12, 2026, along with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria. Nigeria has over 370,000 registered cooperative societies with membership estimates in the tens of millions. Many of these societies rely on manual systems for managing membership records, which hinders verification, accurate sector size estimation, and ensuring government benefits reach the proper beneficiaries.

The new digital infrastructure will consist of the National Cooperative Smart Registry, Cooperative Verification Number for registered societies, and Cooperative Member Identification Number for individual members. The CoopID will directly link a cooperative member’s verified identity to their National Identification Number, creating a digital record for establishing member identities and statuses within the cooperative system.

The registry is not meant to replace the regulatory responsibilities of the Federal Department of Cooperatives or state and FCT cooperative authorities. Instead, it will provide a common digital infrastructure for verifying and connecting cooperative information across the country. The digitalization of the sector can enhance cooperatives' access to finance and government support, making their membership and organizational structures more visible in the formal economy.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Aliyu Abdullahi, stated that the initiative will establish a trusted framework for verified cooperative information while preserving the regulatory powers of existing authorities. The system aims to improve government intervention targeting and make genuine cooperative societies and their members more visible within relevant systems.