70% Co-operatives Render Irregular Account —LASG

The Lagos State Government has lamented that over 70 percent of cooperative societies operating in the state give irregular financial account of their bodies raising suspicion of corruption.

There are about 12,000 cooperative societies operating in Lagos State and with the percentage of account irregularities, it means that cases of corruption are traceable to over 8,400.

Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, at the grand-finale of the 2012 International Day of Cooperatives in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, said one of the challenges facing the societies was that of inadequate, irregular and non-rendition off annual accounts by more than 70 percent of registered societies.

“On regular basis, I get petitions from members alleging misappropriation of funds by leadership of the societies,” he said.

Lawal added that several leadership of these societies stay put in office for over 10 years, saying this was uncalled for.

“People are being president for over 10 years. People are complaining that you don’t want to leave office. We will enforce this,” he stated.

The commissioner said other problems faced by the cooperatives are poor understanding among members on the management of the cooperatives; fraud minimisation and eradication to ensure sustainable growth and confidence of members.

He added that members of the cooperatives also lacked investment exposure to ensure maximum returns for members.

“It is against this backdrop that the Cooperative College recently commissioned was established. I urge you to take advantage of the college to minimise the identified problems among the trustees and members of our societies,” he stated.