PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF MEDIA IN ENCOURAGE ADULT PARTICIPATION IN COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
<>1.0Â BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Cooperative society is a group of people who have bunched themselves together to carry on a business enterprise for the benefit of all of the members, which acting as an individual could not do or could do well. Cooperative then is the organization of a group of people who have provided their own self help user group enterprise. It is an association of persons, usually of limited means, who have voluntarily joined together to achieved a common economic end through the formation of a democratically controlled business organization making equitable contribution to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking. Cooperative society objectives are to foster economic development, provide social justice and strengthening political democracy (Ebonyi and Jimo 2002).
So many claims and counter claims have been made by researchers, concerning the historical development of cooperative such as Benjamin Franklins: Mutual Fire Insurance company in Philadelphia in 1752, International Cooperative society founded in Lennoxton in Scotland in 1812, Robert Owen era, Dr. William King (1825-1830) and Rochdale Equitable pioneers (Ntia 1999).
Cooperative societies as we know today, are based on a set of principles. These principles have been used as the distinguishing characteristics of the cooperative organization the world over. They included open membership, democratic control, promotion of members education, political and religious neutrality limited interest on capital and service at cost.
The aims of cooperative organizations are to establish credit agencies thereby permitting greater productive investments of accumulated capital funds, impart business management into other areas both horizontally and vertically, to accumulate capital in various ways including the pulling of members investments to assists in the development of other cooperative institution necessary for the establishment of general economic and social development. It is critical that the attainment of these objectives transcends the singular activities of the cooperative organization members and necessarily entails the activities of others bodies outside the organization.
