The Kwara Cooperative Federation had accused the Ministry of not having enough staff to discharge responsibility of supervision and audit of cooperative societies across the state.

The Commissioner in an Interview with Pilot Business yesterday, said "It is not true that there is inadequate staff in the ministry. We have Area officers across all the 16 local governments supervising the operations of these cooperative societies.

"They have the authority to dissolve the executives of co-operatives that are not performing up to expectation.

"We have been organising series of seminar, programmes to sensitise these co-operatives with the target of strengthening their financial capacity.

"There are about 13,000 Cooperative societies in the state and we are overseeing and auditing the active ones yearly and trying to resuscitate the inactive societies.

"These co-operatives submit their account for audition the ministry as indicated in the law and we advise them on how to expand their co-operatives.

Aifun revealed that the state government had recently recruited 75 candidates, who are undergoing training in the cooperative school to enhance the activities of cooperative societies.

He added that graduates were equally recruited in the Ministry to strengthen cooperative operations in the state.

The Commissioner stressed that apart from supervising the co-operatives in the state ministries they also oversees the activities of some co-operatives in federal government institutions like Unilorin, Federal Ministry of Agriculture , ARMTI among others.

Earlier, The President of Kwara Cooperative Federation, Elder Isaiah Aweda Ogundele had stressed that there are so many cooperative groups that are not being supervised properly by the Ministry of Cooperative because of shortage of staff.

He said "why the activities of the cooperative societies are not functioning is because there are only few staff in the Ministry.

"It is only when the government wants to assist the cooperative societies that the ministry will be rushing, telling people to go and form cooperative groups instead of working with the existing ones.

Ogundele tasked the ministry to be committed and focused in strengthening cooperative societies as it is done in other states. "The only way Federal Government intervention loans can get to the grassroots is through availability of viable cooperative societies.