The need for Cooperative Education in Nigeria
MEANING AND CONCEPT OF COOPERATIVE EDUCATION/TRAINING – According to Nwokoye and Ahiazu, “For an employee in any organisation to carryout his duties and responsibilities effectively, he has to possess some necessary skills and knowledge needed for the job.Training according to Nwokoye (1989:6) and Ahiazu” is the organized procedure by which an individual systematically acquires knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform a given task. Education is the aggregate of all processes by which a person develops abilities, attitudes and other forms of behaviour of a positive value in the society in which he lives.
Okonkwo JNP (1972:1) defined cooperative education as a means of knowing the meaning, objective and running of the cooperative society, the duties of the members, the committee and the officers, the knowledge of the society’s bye-law and the relevant sections of the cooperative law.
According to Odubanjo M. O. (1964:16 cooperative education/training is “a means of improving the knowledge, skills and attitude of cooperators in order to survive in the competitive market and to carryout their business activities in a distinctive cooperative way.
- IMPORTANCE OF COOPERATIVE EDUCATION/TRAINING
According to Okonkwo J. N. P. (1989:61); the importance of cooperative education/training cannot be overstressed. It is very important for all the members committee and officers of cooperative societies. Without it, a cooperative society cannot be effectively and efficiently run, and nothing good can be achieved without cooperative education/training the committee members as well as the members generally, will not know the goal and objective of their organisation, nor will they understand, the rights, functions, duties and responsibilities thereby making them ineffective in their operations. Again, the provision of the cooperative law and their society’s bye-law will not be known by them because, they lack cooperative education/training. This as a consequence has led to the collapse of a great number of cooperative societies in different parts of the country”.
Also Read: Accounting System of Cooperative Societies
According to Ibid, in the early nineteenth century, when the pre-Rochdale cooperative societies were formed, they all collapsed because of one reason and the other. One of which is lack of Cooperative Education/Training. Aware of this fact, the Rochdale equitable pioneer decided to pay greater attention to cooperative education. They made cooperative education/training, one of their main rules of life, which in course of time matured into acceptable principles of cooperative in the whole world.
- THE NEED FOR COOPERATIVE EDUCATION/TRAINING
According to Chukwu, the need for cooperative education/training is that, for cooperative societies to make a reasonable headway in the right directions; they also need Cooperative Education/Training for the following reasons:
- Ned for self preservation
- Need for self direction inherent in the cooperative system.
- Need for self reproduction of the cooperative society
- Need to create a conducive environment for cooperative activity.
According to Runa, the need for Cooperative Education/Training is to develop a strong self-reliance and democratically managed movement which would be in a position to achieve its social and economic objectives.
According to Odubanjo, the management of cooperative business enterprise to whom the society has delegated the responsibility and management of the business of a society need more cooperative education/training, since the growth and success of the society depends largely on their effectiveness. He noted that, to be right on top of the job, they need Cooperative Education/Training for the following reasons:
- To improve their knowledge and skill in cooperative, in order to convey cooperative ideology in practical terms, thereby enabling them to carryout their business activities in a distinctive way.
- To improve performance and efficiency
- To train them to be competent experts in all aspects of business management, in order to survive with the modern technological development.
- FACTORS THAT MILITATE AGAINST COOPERATIVE EDUCATION/TRAINING
- Poor communication system and lack of information facilities: From a research work carried out Ijere, on the ideas and attitudes of the cooperative in Udi Local Government Area, about 70% of those studied reported that, they haven’t received any formal information from their leaders, reading facilities and information bulletins in order to educate them.
- Lack of Cooperative Autonomy: According to Enyeribe, cooperative leaders have no scope for independent action and no real preparation for it. He sees on to say that, the cooperative movement in Nigeria is smothered by government official.
In an earlier submitted by the EEC cooperative Education in Nigeria (Small Wood 198:52) the main obstacles to Cooperative Education/Training in Nigeria were summarized as follows:
- Cooperative Education in Nigeria is not based on a clear analysis on needs.
- Cooperative Education in Nigeria places so much emphasis on the training of officials at the expense of training for the movement.
- Cooperative Education in Nigeria has failed to adequately utilize resources available within the Nigeria Education Training structure.
Cooperative Education in Nigeria lacks adequate capital, infrastructure and organizational structure.
This article was extracted from a Project Research Work Topic
“COOPERATIVE EDUCATION/TRAINING AND EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF CO-OPERATIVE BUSINESS ENTERPRISES (A CASE STUDY OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN UDI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA)”
