The General Manager of SplashFM and LageluFM, Mr Tunde Olawuwo, has challenged Nigeria’s media practitioners to take it as a duty to set agenda for the Cooperative Economy in Nigeria and also drive it as effective response to the reorganization of the country’s economy. While giving the keynote address on what should be the role of the media in organizing and driving a cooperative economy in Nigeria, Mr Olawuwo declares that since Nigeria had surreptitiously dropped welfare economy in 2023, and the country had embraced free market economy through the activities of the federal government, Nigerians should not be left floating or groping about what economic system Nigeria is presently operating and what should be the response from Nigerians to fully tap the potential of such a people-driven, free market economy.
According to the media boss while speaking at the Business Conference packaged by the Leacent Industrial Cooperatives Group, Nigeria to celebrate the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives and to unveil the Movements tripartite approach to industrial cooperative activities in Nigeria at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Olawuwo declares that Nigeria is blessed with a diverse and vibrant media ecosystem with over 200 licensed radio stations with numerous television stations broadcasting across the country, numerous print media houses and increasing online and social media platforms that are capable of organizing and driving the Nigeria’s economy with effective advocacy to direct governments policy framework for a people-driven economic system on one hand and to also help direct the peoples approach to doing collective business in a sustainable manner. The media is the lifeblood required to organize and drive a virile cooperative economy in todays Nigeria, he emphasized.
In his words to corroborate Olawuwo’s position, the Convener of the Industrial Cooperation Conference, Mr Ola Emmanuel, who is also the founder of the industrial cooperative movement, asserts that since January 2023 Nigeria’s economy started reshaping to become private sector-led cooperative economy; therefore individuals and corporate bodies need to become more organised to inter-cooperate with good structure, trust, integrity, and leveraging the power of numbers to deliver industrial scale businesses in a sustainable manner. Such inter-cooperation will make it easier for stakeholders in production, markets and finance to easily return commerce to communities and shared wealth to participating stakeholders in a tripartite relationship and for the benefit of all. While addressing business group leaders and corporate organisations that were present at the business event, the convener declares that more than ever before, enterprise stakeholders need to bring their respective capacity into a synergy to create business movements that can effectively activate industrial scale production in a very strategic move to ensuring private sector-driven transformation of the Nigerian economy. “We have critically examined the chain comprising production, markets and funding; and we have identified and set out to organise cooperatives, individuals and other stakeholders into a tripartite inter-cooperation structure. This shall enable us to carry out interventions in all critical areas such as Capacity Building, Performance Enhancement, Market Penetrations, Funding, Risks Mitigations, Production Supports, Business Linkages, etc.,” he added.
