The Lagos State Cooperative College (LASCOCO) recently graduated 104 students. During the graduation ceremony, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu restated his commitment to help the college to achieve its mission of creating an economy that is knowledge-driven and skill-based. CHINAKA OKORO reports
Arguably, cooperative societies play crucial roles in the social and economic development of any society. Again, from the point of view of their operational framework, cooperatives work towards fair globalisation – one that is fundamentally inclusive, sustainable and people-oriented.
According to experts, cooperative societies achieve the above feat by creating and supporting business entities that promote solidarity among the people, greater accountability, deep partnership and fair roles and standards that offer equitable opportunities for all. This may have informed the establishment of the Lagos State Cooperative College (LASCOCO), Oko-Oba, which recently graduated 104 students.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu did not hide his feelings for what he wanted LASCOCO to be. Hence his untiring efforts at making sure that both the education and physical structure of the school get facelifts on a regular basis. He assured LASCOCO of his administration’s commitment to providing the much-needed support required by the College to function optimally in turning out professionals needed in the sub-sector and in the creation of the platform and opportunities for Nigerians to pursue and develop a career in cooperative business enterprises.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, who made this known at the maiden convocation of the Professional Diploma Programme of LASCOCO, explained that his administration remains relentless in the effort to convert emerging threats to opportunities, leveraging on digitalisation technologies to deliver learning and educational outcomes.
Represented by the Commissioner for Commerce, Mrs Lola Akande, the Governor said the event represented a major milestone in the effort of the present administration to revolutionise the educational drive in the state. He said the administration has embarked on massive investment in critical education infrastructure as well as propelling formulation of policies that would help to engender human capital development, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship skill development, and ultimately facilitate the attainment of the development goal of making Lagos a twenty-first-century economy.
“We have thus established this College out of the need to complement efforts toward the creation of an economy that is knowledge-driven and skill-based in appreciation of the crucial role of cooperatives in enterprise development, job creation, and generation of massive economic opportunities for the teeming population of the state.
“It is, therefore, expected that the existence of the Lagos State Cooperative College would help to enhance the performance of bookkeepers and trustees of cooperative societies through the provision of need-based training; while also helping to meet specific manpower needs of the state through the provision of high-level manpower with capacity for self-employment and job creation.
“I enjoin the leadership and entire membership of the cooperative movement in the state to ensure increased patronage of the training programmes of the Lagos State Cooperative College to develop the capacity of operators in the sub-sector,” the governor said. Let me at this point commend the Governing Council and Management of the College for the giant strides so far recorded within the relatively short period of their coming into office.
“I must acknowledge that you have worked in tandem with my administration’s vision for a greater Lagos through your demonstrable commitment to service. Having set for ourselves the laudable dream of a greater Lagos, it is imperative that we continually strive to sustain the legacy of excellence in the delivery of public goods and services in all sectors of our state’s economy,” Governor Sanwo-Olu said.
The Chairman of the College’s Governing Council, Mr Oyewale Raji, noted that in Lagos State, the number of registered cooperative societies has grown from 108 in 1967 to well over 15,000 with a net asset of N70, 731,066,384.90, according to the mid-year report of the Cooperative Department for 2016. He described such a huge number of cooperators managing a stupendous amount of funds of about N80 billion in today’s worth as an essential part of the current administration’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda and a goldmine waiting to be explored and exploited for the betterment of Lagosians.
“The economic reverberations and trickle-down effects of activities of this sub-sector can only be imagined in terms of improving the economic emancipation of the greater number of our rural dwellers and thus unable to provide assets to collateralise loans from conventional banks and financial institutions,” Raji said.
He also stated that to get to the milestone being witnessed, a number of steps had been taken and achievements delivered through the joint efforts of the Governing Council and the Management team. Thanking the state government for the support rendered to it so far, the Provost of the College, Mr Akorede Ojomu, appealed to Governor Sanwo-Olu to, in his usual manner, help them to overcome some of the challenges facing them, including the procurement of a permanent site to meet NBTE’s requirement of not less than 10 hectares of land and to enable LASCOCO to realise its vision as a global model cooperative institution.
“There are a lot of facilities that are still lacking in the College for which we have currently improvised but which are still required in the long run for the enrichment and standardisation of our academic activities. We need demonstration farms, a well-equipped entrepreneurship centre for vocational and entrepreneurial training, a pseudo-micro finance outfit for students of Microfinance and Enterprise Development, to mention but a few,” Ojomu appealed.
Also, Ojomu revealed that LASCOCO has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom Cooperative College, Manchester (UKCC), a foremost British Educational charity that has been in existence for over a century with a rich heritage of cooperative education, training, research and practice.
“I am happy to report that the Lagos State Cooperative College enjoys the valued members of the UKCC and has also signed with the College, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will avail the institutions the benefit of exchange programmes and, particularly assist LASCOCO to derive the considerable level of mentorship towards the strengthening of its all-encompassing academic governance processes, core academic programmes,” Ojomu said.
The high point of the event was the award of honorary fellowship of the College conferred on a former Commissioner for Commerce, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, and three former permanent secretaries, Wale Raji, Olajide Bashorun and Olalekan Akodu, for their immense contributions to the development of the college. While Mr Bashorun expressed appreciation to the college for the honour bestowed on them; while Mrs Oladunjoye announced that she will be meeting one of the College’s needs by adopting the library, which will operate as a physical and e-learning centre.
No fewer than 104 students bagged Professional Diplomas in Cooperative Studies during the convocation ceremony. Five of the graduating students who distinguished themselves in the course of the professional Diploma programme were given prizes, with Mrs Veronica Akingbade awarded the overall best student prize, while the special student award was given to Ogunjinrin Oluwakemi, a person living with a disability for her tenacity and resilience during the programme.