CFAN to launch shares exchange for co-operatives in Nigeria

The National Co-operative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN), in what is being described by stakeholders as a novel idea, is set to launch a Co-operative Shares Exchange initiative centred around Co-operatives in the country.

CFAN is the national financial body for all registered Co-operative Societies that offer financial services to their members in Nigeria.

In a sensitisation workshop held in Lagos recently, Adebola Orolugbabe, the President/Chairman, Board of Directors of CFAN, said the idea of the Shares Exchange is to have a financial instrument for the transfer, buying and selling of Co-operative Shares.

“CFAN intends to list the shares of viable Co-operatives that comply with laid down procedures on an OTC or BlockChain platform and to trade these shares amongst its members. We will also use the OTC/BlockChain platform to promote and to trade approved Co-operative securities so as to raise capital in the market.”

Related News

Also speaking at the workshop, Eric Olo, the Managing Director of E-Percent, said the Shares Exchange will have a digital registry to maintain all the records of the Co-operatives for ease of access uniformity, and as a way of maintaining compliance for the Exchange, and will be an asset management platform that ensures liquidity, risk mitigation and diversification for Co-operatives on the Exchange.

While delivering his paper, Abubakar Lawal, another keynote speaker and the Chief Executive Officer of GTI Capital, stated that the Shares Exchange will create financial freedom and redistribution of wealth among Co-operative Societies.

The workshop was a crystallization of over six years of work developed by CFAN, GTI Capital and E-Percent, with the aim of adding value to co-operative shares and opening up the capital market space. When it finally comes on stream, stakeholders expect that the Shares Exchange would help create about 150,000 direct jobs and over 300,000 indirect jobs across Nigeria.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.