The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has inaugurated the National Steering Committee for the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP) 2025–2030 to drive food security. 

This top-level committee has been set up in Abuja to clean up the cooperative space, introduce digital tracking numbers, and establish a dedicated bank to fund smallholder farmers across the country.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Dr Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, led the inauguration ceremony at the ministry’s conference room. He clarified that the new programme aligns directly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic agenda. 

The initiative is to improve local cooperatives into highly productive, transparent, and digitally enabled institutions that can attract private investors and boost job creation.

To eliminate ghost groups and protect smallholder investments, the committee will oversee a nationwide digital registration initiative. This system involves implementing a National Cooperative Smart Registry, assigning a unique Cooperative Verification Number (CVN), and providing each member with an individual Cooperative Member Identification Number (CoopID).

These digital tools will link directly with existing national identity networks to ensure that only verified farmers receive government inputs, credit lines, and extension support.

The committee will also provide critical policy guidance for the establishment of the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria. 

Under the approved framework, local cooperative societies will hold a 65 per cent controlling equity stake in the bank to keep the institution firmly focused on rural development. 

Minister Abdullahi charged the committee members to work with total integrity, stating that the success of the project will be measured by the actual number of farmers empowered and communities transformed, rather than the number of reports produced.

Source: Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation