Formation Registration Of A Cooperative Societies

INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The word co-operative is all about people working together or working mutually. The co-operative has been defined by different schools of thought but the variation lies in the degree of emphasis on one aspect or the other.

One school of thought describes co-operative as business undertaking owned and operated by voluntary associations in order to provide themselves with work and wages or with goods and services. But International Co-operative alliance (I.C.A) definition of co-operative states that it is an “Autonomous association of Persons, united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.”

During the colonial days the seed of co-operation was sown but it could only grow slowly. At this point co-operatives were restricted to serve only the interest of the paymaster. Co-operatives then were not allowed to grow or expand to the hinterlands.

Ever before the coming of the white men to Nigeria, Nigeria has been practicing co-operation in various aspect of their lives. In Igbo land for instance, communities co-operated to put up buildings for their members through communal efforts. Tillage, planting and harvesting of crops were also undertaken. They existed a system of credit co-operation known as “ISUSU” by which members of a community banned themselves into a union for the purpose of raising found for their members.

In Nigeria, the first hint on co-operative emergence occurred during the first world war. This co-operative which happen to be a consumer was modeled along the Rochdale of England – home of the colonialist. This earliest co-operative society existed to ration out consumer goods – which was very scarce during the world war, soon after the war ended the consumer co-operative died a natural death.

There after in 1926, the then colonial Agricultural ministry began organizing cocoa farmers around Abeokuta and Ibadan.
The colonial masters appointed Mr. F.C. Strickland to go and understudy the success story of cocoa marketing co-operative of the western region with a view to enacting co-operative law for three months – Dec. 1933 to March 1934. In his report, Mr. Strickland strongly recommended the introduction of co-operative into Nigeria in his report which he submitted in April 1934.

Till date in line with the above understanding, Mr. E.F.G. Haig was appointed as a registrar of Co-operatives in Nigeria to be able to undertake these responsibilities, he was sent abroad to under study the Indian Co-operative movement and law.

Here we are today to study the procedure that is involved in registering of Co-operative societies. After the political landscape of Nigeria changed in 1951 every nation under Nigeria was allowed to develop under regions. So co-operative went the same way viz West, East and North.
(Obodoechi Osita 2002).

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
There have been instances in the history of human society where individuals have come together to achieve certain aim in co-operation with others. The I.C.A definition of co-operative society states that is an “Autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common Economic social and cultural needs and aspiration through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

The aim of co-operative society is to bring people together with the intention to satisfy and fulfill their economic and social needs and aspiration which cannot
Be achieved by individual action. It has been observed that this type of business organization is not popular and commonly formed in this part of the world. Despite the numerous importance and co-operative effects such as price effect, increased specialization, general improvement of members and education, effects available or gained by members of co-operative societies in Nigeria , still people are being reluctant to form and organize a co-operative society.

What are the problems associated with people’s low turn-out in forming and joining a co-operative society? Could it be associated with lack of awareness of co-operative movement or because it operates independently of government and external interference or does people finds it difficult to come together in other to meet their commonly felt need and aspirations? Because of these views the researcher now tries to find out the ways of formation/registration of co-operative societies.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Through the formation of a viable co-operative society the main objective of the study includes:-
A) To find out how a viable co-operative society is formed and how it is being registered.
B) To determine the problems associated with the formation and registration of co-operative society.
C) To find out the best procedure that will be followed in formation and registration of co-operative society.
D) To determine those factors that hinders individuals in joining co-operative society.
E) To recommend the necessary things that could be done to maintain and enhance the success of co-operative society.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The researcher undertake this study because he want to solve a problem facing formation/registration of co-operative society more especially now that all hands are on deck to enhance the growth and development of the Nations economy by encouraging the private sector in participating in the development of the economy.

This study will be of immense benefit to the members of the public that do not have the idea about co-operative society and it’s numerous benefits to humanity.

The significance of this study will go a long way to investigate the formation/ registration, procedures which unregistered societies should adopt in order to be fully registered as a viable society.

The study will also reveal the relationship that exists between the members and the co-operatives in the process of running the organization.

The significance of this study will also benefit both undergraduates and graduates of co-operative economists that intends to organize or join co-operative society.
The recommendation of this study will be useful to pre-co-operative societies in understanding those areas of short comings that affect the formation and registration of co-operative society.
Finally, the study will go a long way to serve as a reference material for further studies and for those who intend to carry out further research based on co-operation.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study aims at answering the following questions:
1. Is formation of co-operative the first thing to do before it is registered?
2. What are the conditions for registration of co-operative society?
3. Is there any steps to follow in order to get a society formed or registered?
4. What are the factors that influence the establishment/formation of co-operative?
5. What role has educational qualification of members to play in the formation of viable co-operative societies?
6. Are there any form of restrictions for membership?

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY
Basically, this study was aimed at finding out the formation/registration of co-operative societies in Enugu state. The scope of the study is limited to appraising the procedures involved in registering a co-operative society and also the steps that are involved in the formation.
During the course of writing this research a lot of constraints were encountered by the researcher among which were:
1. TIME: Work of this nature is expected to be completed on a given time. Normally the allocated time is very short for this reason time factor was one of the militating forces against this research, considering this project.
2. FINANCE: Insufficient fond has also contributed to the problem of carrying out this study. This has necessitated the reduction of the volume of this work to this level.
3. MISCELLANEOUS: These are other constraints encountered by the researcher during the time of writing this project. Among which includes poor co-operative attitude of some respondents and lack of interest mostly on giving you the text books needed for the project. And most of the time the researcher will visit the case study, he will not see these people that will give him the vital information needed. As a result of this the researcher ends up making some several cold-calls to the organization.