Oriyomi Ayeola, the President of the Co-operative Federation of Nigeria (CFN), has been elected the President of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) Africa Region.
Before his election by the 8th Technical Committee of Africa, Ayeola was a board member of the Alliance.
He succeeds Japhet Magomere, who served from 2018 to 2021 and retired voluntarily.
To ascend the exalted office, Ayeola had presented to the Alliance a message of hope, bordering on repositioning the continental body to enable it to pick up immediately after the devastation heralded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He told the gathering of windows of opportunities to explore, saying the opportunities could be harnessed if members build on gains, particularly those made in the last 20 years.
He broke down his proposed action plan into 12 including: Rigorous mobilization of women and youths into the African cooperative movement through the provision of technical training and allied resources; capacitation of the national apex cooperatives in Africa through up-scaling of their potential; increased involvement of the African cooperative movement in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) through synergies with relevant international development partners; promotion of synergies aimed at providing enabling environment for cooperative development through the development of the legal frameworks on cooperatives; and promotion of exchange programme and study visits among African cooperatives.
Also, he promised to strengthen the youth network; promotion of cooperative education; promotion of the ICA, Africa region along the eight sectoral divisions of the International Cooperative Alliance; promotion of successful cooperative models as observed in some African countries to serve as prototypes in the other African countries; and the promotion of transnational cooperatives through a proposed “Africa Cooperative Society.”
Other elected officers include; George Magutu of Kenya as vice president; Mr. Mesfin Gebreslassie Gereger of Ethiopia member-at-large; Nyemb Jean Christian of Cameroon member-at-large; Thapelo Obateng of Botswana, member-at-large; and Hilda Ojall of Kenya, Women Representative.