ABLN Cooperative Society brightens Christmas for members with distribution of food items »

By Louis Yunusa

It was an exciting moment for members of one of the fledging cooperatives in Kogi State, ABLN Cooperative Society, as they smiled home with various food items worth more than their contributions for the year.

The Cooperative commenced the distribution of the food items from 5th of this month at various locations with the climax at the State Secretariat, Lokoja, where members converged to cart home the joyful fruits of their paltry but patient contribution of N125 daily for the year.

Items distributed to the 750 active members out of the 830 that registered include, 50kg of rice, a pack of Spaghetti and Noodles, as well as 2.5kg of Semolina, a Litre of Ground nut Oil, 2 litres of Palm Oil and what it calls, ‘Goody Bag’ filled with spices.

The items, as revealed by the management of the Cooperative, at the time they were purchased for distribution cost N56,600, higher than the N45,000 contributed by the members, and stressed that the idea of the Food Cooperative was meant to make food stuffs available to families during festivities and difficult seasons.

According to the management, membership of the Cooperative is drawn from all segments of the society, not necessarily civil servants, with a membership registration of N1,000 and a daily contribution of N125 for a year.

Even as it look forward to expand it scope of services to cover full micro-credit scheme, other strategies it has evolved to enhance its operations going into the future, is a new online application called ‘ABLN FOOD APP’ through which members can make seamless registration, payments and also access information about the Cooperative.

In a Chat with newsmen during the distribution of the items recently, the Cooperative’s Head of Operations, Mr Adamu Abdulmajid, pointed out that similar gesture was extended to members last year, and urged residents of the state who wish to wisely solve the challenge of food crisis in their homes to consider ABLN Food Cooperative, as a sure way out.

A cross section of the beneficiaries applauded the initiative of the Food Cooperative by the ABLN Cooperative Society, stressing that with the package doled out to them, their food need for the yuletide has been settled.