Tribune Online, Author at Tribune Online

The freshly appointed Provost/CEO of Federal Cooperative College, Ibadan, Dr. Ibrahim Abdul Ganiyu, in this interview shares the college’s plan to bring back the glory days of cooperatives in Nigeria. Tell us about the Federal College of Cooperative and what it stands for. The Federal Cooperative College was established in 1948. It’s been established for over 70 years now. And the main mandate why the college was established is to train manpower that will support the cooperative sub-sector of the economy. That was the initial intention of government because in those days, especially in the South-West, we know the role cooperatives played in the development of the South-West’s economy. Cocoa House, the promotion of export trade in the agricultural sector, the promotion of even production, input supply, markets, processing — all these value chains in agricultural production were done by cooperative societies in those days. And, in those days, food production was not a problem. Food was produced in abundance and we would have quite a lot of cash crops to export. All these were done through cooperative societies. But unfortunately, countries like Kenya that came to model and learn our own cooperative societies in those days are thriving better than us. We have left cooperatives. Today, when you go to Kenya, it has a Ministry of Cooperatives. Kenya has cooperative banks. Today, Kenya has a cooperative university and a ministry dedicated to cooperatives, and the economy is thriving. In fact, people believe so much in cooperative banks than the commercial banks because the interest rate is low. It is not only in the area of agriculture. Even commercial motorcycle riders are into cooperatives. That is the importance and the role cooperatives can play in economic development, and that is what this college is meant for. Apart from training middle-level manpower at the National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) level in Cooperative Economics and Management, which is our main mandate, we also have other courses, both at national and at higher national diploma levels. Presently, as we speak, we have ND and HND in Accountancy, ND and HND in Business Administration, ND and HND in Banking and Finance, ND and HND in Computer Science, and Home and Rural Economics. We have National Diploma in Agricultural Technology. There are other courses in agriculture that we intend to bring into the college any moment from now; courses like Agribusiness Management, Agricultural Extension, and even Animal Production. At National Diploma level, students come in through UTME, just like any other admission procedure for other institutions. Our students, after their Higher National Diploma level, also go for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). How are you attracting students now, young people, to come to an institution like your own? We are using a multidimensional approach. Though I just resumed a few months ago, the college has been trying to project its image in so many ways. Thank God, we have social media now. We use social media platforms. We have also adopted print media. We have adopted the use of flyers. We have also, recently, concluded an arrangement to go on radio. We want to tell everyone, not just in Nigeria, that we are here and we are here for good. We have hostel facilities, health centre, library, lecture theaters and classrooms. We have a CBT (computer-based test) centre and a sports facility for students. And of course, we have qualified lecturers. Can you tell us about the Cooperative Innovation and Empowerment Centre? As a college that has mandate for training manpower for the cooperative subsector, we felt there is also need for us to have a centre which we call Cooperative Innovation and Empowerment Centre. There is an agenda pioneered by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture — that is our ministry — to revive and reform cooperative societies. ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE: NSCDC, Immigration, others: FG postpones recruitment, changes portal So, the Cooperative Innovation and Empowerment Centre is our own idea here to support this programme. In essence, we want to ensure that we bring in cooperative societies. We have a centre where they can converge, where we can build their capacity, where we can train them on how they can run cooperative societies effectively. And of course, if there is any assistance from government or among cooperatives, by the time they come together, there will be a kind of synergy. As they come together, they will be able to share benefits among themselves. And beyond that, that will also serve as a laboratory even for our own students. Our own students will be able to interact and interface with some of these cooperative societies. So this is the idea behind the Cooperative Innovation and Empowerment Centre. And we are doing this in collaboration with the states, particularly states in the South-West, through the state directorate of cooperatives among states within the South-West.