The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister for Cooperative Affairs, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, has said that the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria would provide a platform for seamless, affordable housing for Nigerian workers.
The Minister disclosed this during the 2026 Cooperative Housing Summit Africa (CHOSA), with the Theme: “Catalysing Adequate Housing for All through Cooperatives”, held in Abuja, recently.
He noted that the Workers’ Housing Initiative would be driven through the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP) of the present administration.
The Minister revealed plans for the establishment of a Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, designed to provide accessible financing for cooperative housing schemes, mortgages, infrastructure development and community projects.
According to him, “ the proposed bank would operate under a cooperative ownership structure and focus on underserved Nigerians, especially workers in the informal sector.
“Africa’s cooperative housing ecosystem cannot operate effectively in the modern era without robust digital infrastructure’’
He assured that the Federal Government would digitise cooperative operations nationwide to improve transparency, financial management, access to credit and investor confidence.
He explained that digital finance platforms would simplify mortgage repayment systems, housing project monitoring and cooperative member verification, among others.
In his presentation, the Founder of Nigeria Integrated Social Housing Cooperative Ltd. (NISH), Dr Saheed Adelakun, faulted the traditional Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, insisting that affordable housing delivery must now embrace a “Public-Private-People Partnership” approach.
He advised that ‘’intended homeowners should be directly involved in housing projects for affordability to be achieved’’.
He pointed out that “We need houses that low and middle-income earners can truly afford. Government, developers, cooperatives and homebuyers must work together.”
