The Federal Government has partnered with Seamfix Limited and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria to develop and deploy a national digital registry aimed at formalising and improving the management of Nigeria’s cooperative sector.

The National Cooperative Smart Registry will serve as a central digital platform for registering and verifying cooperative societies and their members, with individual members linked to their National Identification Numbers, Seamfix said in a statement.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Abuja on August 12, 2026, by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Seamfix and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria under the government’s Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme.

Nigeria has more than 370,000 registered cooperative societies, with membership running into tens of millions. The cooperatives operate across key sectors of the economy, including agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, housing, transport and finance.

However, the government said many cooperative societies continue to rely on manual systems for managing membership records, making it difficult to authenticate members, accurately assess the size of the sector and ensure that government interventions reach the intended beneficiaries.

The new digital infrastructure will feature the National Cooperative Smart Registry, a Cooperative Verification Number for registered societies and a Cooperative Member Identification Number for individual members.

The CoopID will be linked to each member’s verified identity and National Identification Number, creating a digital record that will help establish members’ identities and status within the cooperative system.

The government said the registry would not replace the statutory registration and regulatory functions of the Federal Department of Cooperatives or cooperative authorities in the states and Federal Capital Territory.

Instead, the platform will serve as a common digital infrastructure for verifying and connecting cooperative information nationwide.

The initiative is expected to strengthen regulatory coordination, reduce fraud and duplication, and provide more reliable data to support government planning, investment and the delivery of interventions.

The Federal Government also said digitising the sector could improve cooperatives’ access to finance and government support by making their membership records and organisational structures more visible and accessible within the formal economy.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Aliyu Abdullahi, said the initiative would create a trusted framework for verified cooperative information while preserving the regulatory powers of existing authorities.

He said the system would improve the targeting of government interventions and enhance the visibility of genuine cooperative societies and their members within formal systems designed to support them.

Seamfix Group Chief Executive Officer, Chimezie Emewulu, said the registry would provide the digital infrastructure needed to connect cooperative societies with systems and services designed to support their operations and growth.

“At Seamfix, we believe that identity is not a privilege; it is a right,” Emewulu said, adding that the registry would provide the digital layer needed to connect cooperatives to the wider economy.

Seamfix Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Frank Atube, said the lack of a digital system linking cooperative records had left the sector heavily reliant on manual processes, making it more difficult to ensure that government interventions reached the intended beneficiaries.