Seamfix, Federal Government and CFN Sign Agreement to Launch National Digital Registry for Nigeria’s Cooperative Sector

Seamfix Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Ministry of
Agriculture and Food Security and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria to develop and
deploy the National Cooperative Smart Registry, a national digital registry for registering
and verifying Nigeria’s cooperative societies and their members.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at an official ceremony held in
Abuja and presided over by the Honourable Minister of State for Agriculture and Food
Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi CON,
on 12th August 2026.

The partnership represents a major step in the implementation of the Renewed Hope
Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP 2030) and the Federal
Government’s efforts to modernise Nigeria’s cooperative sector.
The digital infrastructure comprises the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR), the
Cooperative Verification Number (CVN) for cooperative societies, and the Cooperative
Member Identification Number (CoopID), which links every cooperative member’s
verified identity to their National Identification Number (NIN).

Today, most cooperative societies in Nigeria manage their membership records
manually. This makes it difficult to confirm who is genuinely registered, slows down
access to government support, and leaves the sector’s true size and structure largely
invisible to the formal economy. The NCSR will change this by giving cooperatives a
digital register that ties each member’s CoopID directly to their NIN.

The NCSR is designed to support, not replace, the statutory registration and regulatory
responsibilities of the Federal Department of Cooperatives at the national level, and the
State and FCT Departments and Directorates of Cooperatives within their respective
jurisdictions. Together, the NCSR, CVN and CoopID will give the sector the transparency it
has not had before.

Nigeria has more than 370,000 registered cooperative societies with an estimated
membership in the tens of millions, spanning agriculture, commerce, manufacturing,
housing, transport and finance. Despite the sector’s scale and economic significance, fragmented records and manual verification processes have held the sector back.
Digitalising cooperatives would strengthen their capacity to access finance and
government interventions, while providing the data needed to drive better planning and
investment.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Honourable Minister stated:
“Under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, the Federal
Government is committed to building a cooperative sector that is modern, transparent,
accountable and fully integrated into Nigeria’s formal economy. The National
Cooperative Smart Registry will establish a trusted national framework for verified
cooperative information while preserving the statutory powers of the Federal, State and
FCT cooperative regulatory authorities within their respective jurisdictions.
“The successful implementation of this initiative will depend on close collaboration with
the Federal Department of Cooperatives and the State and FCT Departments and
Directorates of Cooperatives, whose registration and regulatory responsibilities are
central to the integrity and sustainability of the system.

“Through NCSR, we will improve regulatory coordination, strengthen the targeting of
government interventions, reduce fraud and duplication, and make genuine cooperative
societies and their members more visible within the systems established to serve them.
“The Cooperative Federation of Nigeria, as the umbrella body of the cooperative
movement, will support sectoral sensitisation, engagement and mobilisation, while
Seamfix Limited will provide the required technical infrastructure. By bringing together
government regulatory institutions, the cooperative movement and our technical
partner, we are laying the foundation for greater trust, financial inclusion, agricultural
transformation, food security and inclusive economic growth.”

Chimezie Emewulu, Group CEO of Seamfix Limited, said: “At Seamfix, we believe that identity is not a privilege, it is a right. And the right to be seen,
verified, and trusted is the foundation on which everything else in a modern economy is
built. The NCSR is not just a registration programme, it is infrastructure, the layer that
connects a cooperative to the systems built to serve it. We are honoured to be the
partner delivering this alongside the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, and we are
committed to doing so with the same rigour we have brought to every national
programme we have built.”

Frank Atube, Executive Director and COO of Seamfix Limited, added:
“For too long, this sector has operated without a digital system connecting its records, a
gap that has left cooperatives relying on manual processes to manage their members’
identity information, and government interventions struggling to reach the right beneficiaries. Through the CVN, every registered cooperative society gets a verified
digital identity. Through the CoopID, every cooperator’s identity is tied directly to their
NIN, making them visible not only to the communities that have always known them, but
to the formal economy that was always meant to serve them.”

Under the agreement, FMAFS will provide national policy direction and regulatory
leadership; the State and FCT cooperative authorities will serve as essential
implementation collaborators within their jurisdictions; CFN will lead stakeholder
engagement and mobilisation; and Seamfix Limited will provide the technology and
infrastructure required to deploy and operate the platform.

By connecting verified cooperative information nationally, the NCSR will lay the
foundation for a more visible, trusted, and inclusive cooperative sector, one that
advances agricultural development, food security, financial inclusion, employment
creation, and Nigeria’s broader economic transformation.

ABOUT SEAMFIX LIMITED
Seamfix Limited is a pan-African digital identity and trust infrastructure company
building the systems that make Africa’s digital economy trustworthy. With over a decade
of experience delivering national-scale identity and verification programmes, Seamfix
has supported the enrollment of over 130 million Nigerians in partnership with the
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), delivered SIM registration
compliance solutions for Africa’s telecommunications sector, and deployed the ePass
digital passport platform for the Republic of Benin’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The company operates across six African markets: Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, the Republic of
Benin, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana, and has managed over 350 million identities.
Seamfix’s product portfolio includes BioSmartX, Fixiam, ePass, and FixID.

ABOUT THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is the Federal Government
institution responsible for formulating and coordinating national policies and
programmes for agriculture, food security and cooperative development. Through the Federal Department of Cooperatives, the Ministry provides national policy
and regulatory leadership for the cooperative sector and exercises statutory
responsibility for the registration and regulation of cooperative societies operating at the
national level. The Ministry also collaborates with State and FCT cooperative authorities
to promote regulatory coordination, institutional development and the sustainable
growth of cooperatives across Nigeria.

ABOUT STATE AND FCT COOPERATIVE AUTHORITIES
The State and FCT Departments and Directorates of Cooperatives are government
institutions with statutory responsibility for registering, regulating and supervising
cooperative societies within their respective jurisdictions.
As critical implementation collaborators, they will support the validation, migration,
updating and integrity of cooperative records within their States and the FCT, while
retaining their respective statutory powers and responsibilities.

ABOUT THE COOPERATIVE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA
The Cooperative Federation of Nigeria is the national umbrella body representing
Nigeria’s cooperative movement. It provides a platform for cooperative organisations
and their members to engage on matters affecting the growth, development and
collective interests of the sector.
Under this partnership, CFN will support stakeholder engagement, sensitisation and
mobilisation across the cooperative movement, complementing the statutory
responsibilities of the Federal, State and FCT cooperative regulatory authorities.

—END—

Seamfix Meets Arise TV: Chibuzor Onwurah Talks Digital Transformation in Africa

Seamfix is pleased to publicize our recent feature on Arise TV – a global news channel with a strong focus on Africa.

In a 9-minute interview packed with industry insights, Chibuzor Onwurah, our co-founder and executive director expatiated on “Achieving Sustainable Growth through Digital Transformation”

Chibuzor was featured on the “Arise Xchange” slot – a weekday evening programme that focuses on Pan-African financial news and global markets.

Here’s a summary of the interview:

What does Digital Transformation mean for Business Leaders today?

“Digital Transformation is the art of a business bringing in technology to change what they do so they can be more efficient, reduce risk, discover new revenue streams and innovate manual processes in a constantly changing world.

It starts from the mind – it’s a cultural change, from the business leader recognizing that times are changing so you need to be prepared to test new methods and from there discover where you’re dropping the ball.

Then you look for the right technology to transform a particular business goal.

And the technology used is just a tool – it starts with a leader understanding what they want to achieve then finding the right tool/service as a fit for it.”

On Digital Identity for Developing Countries

“An important benefit of digital transformation is that it makes your business more customer accessible, through self-service.

Now, customers are able to utilize your service at their own time and pace and on their own devices. Thinking about that, to serve that customer you need to know who they are.

And that leads you to regulatory aspects like KYC(know-your-customer) and the business aspect of identifying these customers so you can better tailor services to them using data from specific interests based on their activities and preferences.

The more you can know and identify a customer, the more you can tailor your value to them which helps you keep them in the long term”

Ensuring Safety of Customer Identity

“This is where the technology used and partners come into play.

For example, Verified africa helps you to digitally perform customer and address verification and it’s plugged into regulatory bodies like NIMC (National Identity Management Commission).

The identity data gotten from customers isn’t transferred to businesses, so a customer never needs to worry about a data breach or mishandling”

How does this affect the Future of Work?

“The post-pandemic world makes digital transformation a reality and a requirement. For example, banks use our onboarding solutions to acquire customers anywhere in the world, from church to the marketplace.

Every single sector has various use cases for Digital Transformation meaning there’s so much to be done.

It doesn’t just make your work faster alone, it makes you approach things differently.

So it’s not that jobs will be lost but the nature of work will change. Workers will need upskilling which is actually better for them in the long term.

So we need more hands, we need more education. We have a young population that needs to be trained and acquire skills to contribute to the change we need.

That’s why we’re launching the “Seamfix Nextgen Academy“. We want to train over 10,000 young people over the next few years so they can have more tech skills and contribute to the digital world.

Tech is here to enable everyone for more and for better.”

Watch the Full Interview below:

Seamfix is a proud supporter of talent. To find out more about the nextgen academy, visit the site to get the required information.

Seamfix Proudly Joins the Big Four Telcos as a Member of GSMA in Africa.

What is possible with the power of technology?

When we started as a company 14 years ago from a small office and a team of four, this was the question we asked ourselves.

Every day, that answer becomes clearer and clearer even after multiple awards, achievements, and impact in the lives of over 200 million end-users, hundreds of organizations around the continent, and training our employees to become global leaders in their respective fields.

In 2010, when we won the project to implement a KYC SIM Registration Biometric solution for Zain (Now Airtel) Telecommunications, we knew that we could potentially change the mobile industry faster than some governments could even dream of.

Six years later, we would revamp the Airtel SIM Registration platform, and deploy a more robust and compliant solution, ‘BioSmart’ – a game-changer in mobile adoption in Nigeria, empowering over 200 million Nigerians to own a Sim Card wherever they are.

Today, Seamfix stands tall among the giants in the mobile operations industry. We couldn’t be more proud of the work we’ve accomplished and we know there’s more to come.

That’s why we’re elated to announce our inclusion into the GSMA community as an industry member!

What is the GSMA About?

The Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) is an association representing the interests of mobile operators and the broader mobile industry worldwide.

Its members include mobile operators, handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers, and Internet companies to which Seamfix now proudly belongs.

The GSMA also organizes industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress, the Mobile World Congress Shanghai, and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.

The GSMA has a strong and growing presence in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, with a multi-disciplinary team of more than 20 staff spread across the region, in DRC, Côte D’Ivoire, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Among the GSMA’s key activities in the region is Mobile for Development (M4D) initiatives, public policy engagements, coordination of regional interest groups, and member services.

What Role will Seamfix Play in the GSMA?

From exploring the adoption of 5G in SSA to industry-intensive research on the state of mobile money as well as capacity-building courses for young people, the GSMA is committed to modernizing the quality of service regulations in Africa.

“We are delighted to welcome Seamfix Limited as our newest GSMA Industry Member. Our work in Sub-Saharan Africa has been very effective in transforming the landscape of mobile efficiency on the continent.

With Seamfix coming on board, we’re confident that we will triple our work in development initiatives and private/public sector engagements” – Maria Smith, Operations Manager at GSMA.

Seamfix, a leading Mobile Communication company in Nigeria through our ID and data management work across the Telcos, is joining GSMA to enable us to expand into the global mobile communication industry and drive innovation with fellow industry members.

“As members of the GSMA, Seamfix now has access to over 750 big game players in the mobile industry from Samsung to CISCO, to Amazon. What this means is that our clients and end-users, about 1 billion over the next 10 years, can expect next-level engagements from Seamfix as we push the boundaries of what’s possible in the mobile and digital frontiers.” – Chimezie Emewulu, CEO.

Over the last decade, Seamfix has pioneered game-changing services across the continent with two of our products – Biosmart and Verified Africa fostering digital enrollment for over 100 million Nigerians in partnership with NIMC and verifying over 240k identities for seamless customer onboarding for multiple organizations.

From our humble beginnings 14 years ago, we’re delighted with the progress we’ve made and this membership only serves to reinforce our commitment to pioneering digital transformation across every industry in Africa and beyond as we expand our reach to the United Kingdom.

So what is possible with technology?

Like we were 14 years ago with only a dream in our hearts and a question in our minds, the next decade will see us tackle more stringent problems, equipped with bigger resources, more qualified hands, extensive partnerships, and the same youthful ambition.

Everything is possible with technology, welcome to the Seamfix era.