Cooperatives Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN) in collaboration with Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development (PAWED) has called for the review of the cooperative’s policies to better accommodate modern realities, especially as it concerns women and youth.

The executive secretary of CFAN, Emmanuel Atama, who made the call yesterday at a national symposium said “Time has come to review the age-long National Cooperative Development Policy Act (2002) and the Nigerian Cooperative Society Act 2004 to give more policy, legal direction and accommodate modern realities in view of the sustainable and self-help opportunities that abound in cooperatives.

Also, the president and coordinator of AWITA-PAWED, Mrs Ruth Agbo, who delivered a keynote address, themed: “Role of women cooperatives in building a better world for inclusive growth and development” noted that MSME employs 84 per cent of Nigeria’s labour force, contributing about 40 per cent to the country’s economy with women owning about 41percent of the total MSMEs in the country.

She cited access to long-and short-term loans, poverty reduction, job creation and others as some of the benefits of cooperatives, especially for women.

Agbo called on the government to educate women on cooperative societies that will make them more informed.

She also called for the passing, implementation and sustenance of bills and laws on savings and loans for women while citing National Social Investment Policy 2016 – trader moni and market moni and National agriculture loan facility management as case studies.