BY Juliana Katung
Kaduna (Nigeria)- Staff of the Kaduna state House of Assembly, Northwest of the country have been advised to take opportunity of loans provided them by their Cooperative Society to invest in Agriculture to boost their income and Nigerian economic.
Chairman House of Assembly Service Commission, Retired General Muhammad Sani Sale gave the advice in Kaduna at the 2018 Annual General Meeting of the Staff Investment Co-operative Society.
According to him, investing in agriculture is one way to make live easy for civil servants both in service and retired thereby enhancing their income as well as boosting the economic of the state and the country at large.
General Sale who was the chairman of the occasion described the Assembly cooperative as a well funded Society being led by a viable leadership that still made profit despite the economic challenges facing the country .
“In a developed country like Nigeria, the importance of co-operative Society cannot be over emphasized, development is about funding and funding is about the availability of money and government don’t have enough money. Many countries depend on the citizens savings to fund capital project”.
“These countries get their funding for capital or any other project through contribution and savings of their citizens that’s why co-operative Society is very important to a developing Country like Nigeria”. He noted
He therefore called on other staff of the KDHA who are yet to join the society to do so to enable them enjoy the benefits being enjoyed by the members.
Earlier, The president of the co-operative society, Abel H. Adamu said the society over the year under review made a turnover progress of N136,239,285,78.
According to him, in recent years, the economy of the world suffered set backs and challenges that had affected even Nigeria which made businesses to collapse.
“Never the less, the business activities of this great society unlike in the year 2016 even though we made profit cannot be compared with the one for 2017 in which the above turnover in-spite of the challenges was made.
Four million profit, he explained, had been shared among the co_operators”,
He said that members of the cooperative in the year under review, also enjoyed cash loans, Government quarters; Land and Landed Properties, social responsibility fund specially the retired members, investment loans, commodity loan, Training for retiring staff to prepare them on how to face their economic pursuit after retirement among others benefits in the year 2017.
While the leadership of the Cooperative Society is working tirelessly toward getting building materials for their members, the President encouraged them to be more prudent with any form of opportunity that comes their way.
Speaking on the role of a co-operative society in a depressed economic, Austine Buden from Department of Co-operative Studies KAduna Polytechnic said there are many cooperative societies in Nigeria and if well managed , they could change the economic situation of Nigeria.
