A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. It is the coming together of persons voluntarily to solve their individual and collective needs.
The birth of cooperative in nigeria can be traced from the period of the colonial masters who after its success in indian experimented it in nigeria around 1935 and discovered it loud able success.
Both the federal and state governments in nigeria have come to realise the immense contribution of cooperative societies in the development of rural areas as well as getting essential goods to urban dwellers. Government at all levels have encouraged the formation and growth of cooperative societies in order to use them as agents for social and economic mobilization and development in the rural areas.
Generally speaking, cooperative societies in nigeria a multi purpose in nature, engaging in both productive and marketing activities. There are producers, gift and credit consumer cooperative societies. A producer cooperative can go into the group production of food, fish, cash crops, crafts, soap, detergent, among others and market the output. A thrift credit cooperative encourages its members to save regularly on agreed upon times and conditions, and also extend credit to members. Consumer cooperatives operates consumers shop buy in bulk from manufacturers or government agencies, and sell in small quantities to their members. They deal on such essential commodities as milk, sugar, food drinks, fish, meats, soaps and detergent. Details on types of cooperative will future after brief structure of cooperative societies.
Cooperative in Nigeria are organised into the following structures;
1) primary cooperation; which operator do village or community levels, combining to form cooperative unions at the local government levels.
2) Secondary cooperative; all combinations of primary operatives, forming unions at the state levels, called cooperative federations.
3) State apex; (federation) organisations which combine to form the co-operative federation of nigeria, caring for all the extension services that are provided for the societies at the state levels by the trained staff of the Department of Cooperative Ministry of Commerce and Industries. Cooperative societies had in the past greatly helped to mobilize fund for rural development through their thrift and credit activities. But they high inflationary rate in the present-day corporation and economic problems in this country seem to have made it difficult for co-operative credit societies to mobilize funds and collect debts from members. Consumer cooperative are presently not receiving adequate attention from the government, unlike in the days of high scarcity of consumer products 1983 to 1986 when the government made Nigerian national supply company and manufacturers to distribute a portion of their products to them.
