The Akwa Ibom State Government has commenced a statewide Cooperative Local Government Tour, aimed at identifying viable and productive cooperative societies across the state and positioning them as key drivers of agricultural development and food sufficiency.
The tour, undertaken at the instance of Governor Umo Bassey Eno, began on Monday, November 2, with visits to three active cooperative societies in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area. It was led by the Honourable Special Adviser to the Governor on Cooperatives and Rural Development, Rt. Hon. Alice Ekpenyong Ekpenyong, alongside a team from the Bureau of Cooperatives and Rural Development.
Speaking during the visits, Ekpenyong explained that the exercise was designed to assess the operational activities of cooperative societies, understand their challenges and explore opportunities for government intervention to strengthen grassroots economic activities.
She noted that while the Governor’s first term focused largely on infrastructural development and youth empowerment, his second-term vision places significant emphasis on achieving food sufficiency, with cooperative societies expected to play a strategic role.
“The Governor is particularly interested in identifying active and viable cooperative societies across the state, understanding their challenges and determining how government can support them to achieve greater productivity,” she said.
A major component of the tour is the sensitisation of members on the proposed cooperative revalidation exercise and the introduction of the Cooperative Unique Identification Number, an initiative designed to strengthen the state’s cooperative database, improve record management and establish a reliable identification system for registered societies.
Ekpenyong explained that all cooperative societies would be required to present themselves at the Bureau of Cooperatives and Rural Development for the revalidation exercise, urging members to take the process seriously.
She said the unique identification number would provide each cooperative society with a distinct identity, facilitate proper classification and documentation, improve data accuracy and enable government to access reliable information when planning interventions and empowerment programmes.
The Special Adviser also encouraged members of the cooperative to ensure they possess their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the forthcoming elections, to which the members affirmed that they had obtained theirs.
The first stop was Etiutom Multipurpose Cooperative Society, where the team received a warm reception from members, particularly the women. The cooperative leader, Mrs Uduak, explained that the society is actively involved in agricultural production and the marketing of farm produce, and also undertakes skill acquisition and empowerment initiatives for its members.
The Director of Cooperatives, Mr Monday John, inspected the society’s administrative records, including its membership register, minutes book and account book, and commended the cooperative for maintaining accurate and up-to-date records, describing it as one of the best-managed cooperative societies in Ibesikpo Asutan.
Ekpenyong later inspected the society’s agricultural projects, including an oil palm plantation, an extensive tomato farm, a plantain plantation and a fish farm. Members also displayed produce including cassava, yam, cucumber and banana.
Despite its achievements, the cooperative appealed to the state government for support in acquiring a cooperative building to serve as an administrative centre and storage facility, as well as assistance towards establishing a palm oil processing facility to add value to its harvested palm fruits.
The team subsequently visited Ibesikpo South Central Multipurpose Cooperative Society, an oil palm processing cooperative, where the President welcomed the team and highlighted the society’s operational activities and challenges. The cooperative leadership conducted an inspection of its palm oil processing mill and identified the need for expansion of its existing facility and additional processing machinery to increase production capacity.
The third cooperative visited was Ikot Nkim Farmers Ibesikpo Asutan Multipurpose Cooperative Society, another active oil palm processing cooperative. Members conducted the team around their processing factory and showed a newly harvested batch of palm fruits awaiting processing, alongside the cooperative’s palm fruit nursery. Like the previous processing cooperative, the society identified facility expansion and additional processing machinery as its major needs.
A major observation from the tour was the significant agricultural potential within Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area, particularly in oil palm cultivation, palm oil processing, crop production and fish farming. The requests presented by the cooperatives centred largely on infrastructure, processing equipment, storage facilities and expansion of existing operations.
The assessment highlighted the importance of supporting cooperative societies beyond financial interventions by investing in productive infrastructure, modern processing equipment and facilities that would enable them to add value to agricultural produce, expand their operations and reduce post-harvest losses.
The visit to Ibesikpo Asutan marks the commencement of the statewide tour, with the overarching objective of identifying, strengthening and empowering viable cooperative societies as key partners in the state’s agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development agenda.
