Islamic Cooperative Societies: The Silent Financial Revolution Empowering Muslim Professionals in Nigeria
By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido
Last Wednesday, we held the 5-year combined AGM of Samaha Multipurpose Cooperative Society of Bayero University Kano. It was a memorable occasion—one that compelled deep reflection. As Islamic banks, Islamic insurance companies, Islamic microfinance banks, and fund management companies continue to blossom across Nigeria, the Islamic finance industry has grown steadily. Over the last decade especially, Islamic social finance—epitimized by zakah and waqf—has also gained significant attention within Muslim development discourse. Conferences are organized, frameworks are debated, policies are drafted.
Yet, a silent but highly impactful transformation has been unfolding in the relationship between Muslims and finance—one that has progressed almost unnoticed: the steady rise of Islamic Cooperative Societies.
For about 20 years now, I have been directly involved in the Islamic cooperative movement—founding, guiding, consulting, training, and promoting cooperatives in different capacities. From Gombe to Kano, from Kaduna to Lagos, from Bauchi to Ogun States, I have established, guided, and/or trained not fewer than 20 Islamic cooperative societies. My dear state, Gombe, is among those with a reasonable number of cooperatives striving to operate strictly on Islamic principles. Quietly and steadily, without noise or media hype, Islamic cooperatives have been building assets, empowering families, financing education, creating homeowners, and nurturing disciplined savers.
Around 2010, we founded Murabaha Multipurpose Cooperative Society at Gombe State University. It became the financial refuge of academic staff seeking funding for their Master’s and PhD programmes when TETFund sponsorship became politicized and many were denied access. The cooperative stepped in where institutional systems failed. Today, many of those beneficiaries are professors, directors, deans, and senior administrators, making the university proud. That experience strengthened my conviction that properly structured Islamic cooperatives are not merely financial platforms—they are instruments of dignity.
I was enjoying the services and impressive progress of Murabaha when I joined the International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIIBF), Bayero University Kano, in 2014. I arrived with the enthusiasm of joining a similar cooperative at BUK, only to discover that none existed. I kept thinking proactively about what could be done. By 2016, I had developed a detailed proposal for establishing one. After considering several names, I settled on Samaha Multipurpose Cooperative Society. When I presented the idea to the indefatigable Director of the Institute, Prof. Binta Tijjani Jibril, she immediately embraced it, recognizing it as a practical laboratory for testing our Islamic finance theories. She requested that I present it at the Board meeting—and thus, Samaha was born in August 2016.
From the very first year of Samaha’s existence, as we labored quietly to lay foundations—building systems, strengthening governance, and cultivating trust—I found myself fondly nicknamed Abu-Samaha. It was never a badge of ownership, nor a claim to superior effort, for institutions are not the handiwork of one individual. They are products of collective sacrifice and, above all, divine grace. The title was merely a lighthearted expression of attachment—the affection that comes from watching a fragile idea grow steadily from zero to hero, from grass to grace. It was the quiet joy of seeing a seed take root, withstand storms, and slowly begin to blossom.
And today, I repeat it with humility and a grateful smile: if Samaha has grown, it is by the favour of Allah and the discipline, patience, and integrity of its members. We were never the architect of its success—only instruments in a larger design.
The management team did everything possible to build a strong, structured, and professionally managed cooperative. Within months, Samaha became a “Mecca” for BUK staff seeking ethical financial solutions. We assembled a formidable management team: Prof. Binta Tijjani Jibril as Chairman, Dr. Nura Ibrahim as Vice Chairman, Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido as Secretary/Manager, Prof Kabir Tahir Hamid as Auditor, Malam Mustapha Aminu as Assistant Secretary, Malam Abdulmalik Yunusa (now late—may Allah have mercy on him) as Financial Secretary, and Mal Haruna Aliyu (now Registrar of BUK) as PRO. As we approached six months and prepared to commence financing and investments, two strategic committees were inaugurated: the Investment Committee chaired by Dr. Aliyu Dahiru Muhammad, and the Finance Committee chaired by Malam Adamu Umar.
Our philosophy was clear: to create a conducive platform for sustainable savings and investment, with asset ownership, financial education, wealth creation, and economic empowerment as core objectives—all within the Shari’ah paradigm. We were not interested in building a consumption-driven or loan-oriented cooperative. We were building an institution.
By 2019, Samaha had grown to over 500 members. When the first AGM was conducted in 2020 (for the period ended 31st December, 2019), the cooperative had attained an asset base of over ₦100 million and declared a surplus of more than ₦33 million. Notably, it did not borrow a single kobo from any external source. It relied solely on members’ savings—BUK staff—which were invested in halal ventures.
Then came COVID-19. Then came the IPPIS battles with ASUU that halted direct deductions from bursary. Then came prolonged strikes, no-work-no-pay policies, and multiple operational disruptions. These created serious uncertainties and made it difficult to hold subsequent AGMs until 2026, when a combined five-year AGM (2020–2024) was finally conducted. Yet, the story remains inspiring. Membership grew to 1,040 as of 31/12/2024. As at today, the members are over 1,300.
Samaha prioritizes financing members’ diverse needs—asset acquisition, business development, and long-term economic empowerment—while also addressing daily essential commodities and providing soft, interest-free loans (qard hasan). It invests in low-risk, Shari’ah-compliant ventures. Members have acquired hundreds of landed properties, built homes, purchased vehicles, and established businesses. The cooperative developed an effective system for financing Hajj and Umrah, children’s school fees, medical bills, and other family needs. Since 2018, investment in Sukuk has provided a stable, lucrative, Shari’ah-compliant, and low-risk investment window, aligning perfectly with global Islamic capital market trends.
Financially, the strength is remarkable. By December 2024, members’ share capital and ordinary savings had grown to ₦520,143,652.28 (Five Hundred and Twenty Million, One Hundred and Forty-Three Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty-Two Naira, Twenty-Eight Kobo). Total assets stood at ₦638,462,999.66 (Six Hundred and Thirty-Eight Million, Four Hundred and Sixty-Two Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Naira, Sixty-Six Kobo). A net operating surplus of ₦96,530,012.89 (Ninety-Six Million, Five Hundred and Thirty Thousand, Twelve Naira, Eighty-Nine Kobo) was generated between 2020 and 2024—despite severe economic and institutional shocks during that period.
The volume of support extended to members within those five years demonstrates resilience and expansion. In 2020, during the peak of COVID-19 disruptions, ₦42.6 million was disbursed to 218 members. In 2021, despite income constraints, ₦103.9 million was disbursed to 273 members. In 2022, another ₦103.9 million supported 310 members. In 2023, ₦114.6 million was provided to 298 members amid intense economic pressures. By 2024, ₦209.9 million was disbursed to 332 members. Most impressive is the fact that financing volume multiplied roughly fivefold within four years, alongside a consistent rise in beneficiaries.
Samaha’s impact extends beyond its members. It supported the university community by financing essential commodities for ASUU and SSANU members to the tune of over ₦65 million, conducted financial literacy training for NASU members, provided donations to all university union secretariats and the central mosque, and granted numerous qard hasan loans that alleviated socioeconomic hardships.
Despite the institutional disruptions, economic turbulence, COVID-19 shocks, IPPIS battles, prolonged strikes, and policy uncertainties, the atmosphere at the event was not one of lamentation. It was celebration. It was gratitude. It was vindication. As report after report was presented—financial statements, investment summaries, membership growth, surplus declarations—I watched faces light up. I listened to testimonies of transformation. I saw, in real time, what disciplined collective finance can accomplish.
In that moment of happiness and fulfillment, something stirred within me. As the proceedings unfolded and the story of success amidst adversity became clearer, I found myself moved beyond statistics and balance sheets. The emotions translated into words. And those words flowed naturally in Hausa poetry. Right there, in celebration mode, I composed a Hausa poem—an expression of joy, resilience, gratitude, and pride. It was my spontaneous tribute to a silent revolution. A revolution built not on noise, but on discipline. Not on rhetoric, but on structure. Not on dependency, but on collective responsibility.
Globally, cooperative societies are recognized as engines of inclusive growth, contributing significantly to GDP and employment across many economies. In Nigeria—where inflation persists, housing deficits remain alarming, income streams are unstable, and access to ethical finance remains limited—Islamic cooperatives offer a culturally rooted, Shari’ah-compliant, and community-driven alternative. They promote disciplined savings, risk-sharing, asset-backed financing, and collective prosperity.
What we are witnessing is not merely the success of a single cooperative. It is the validation of a model—a model that does not depend on government subvention; a model that does not rely on interest-based borrowing; a model built on trust, discipline, professionalism, and faith.
As I sat there last Wednesday—MC, witness, participant, and grateful servant—listening to reports and watching members who have experienced transformation —from renters to homeowners, from struggling parents to confident planners—I was reminded that sometimes the most powerful revolutions are silent ones.
Islamic Cooperative Societies may not dominate headlines like banks and capital markets, but quietly, steadily, and responsibly, they are reshaping Muslim economic empowerment in Nigeria. They operate without the noise of stock exchanges and without the glamour of corporate finance, yet their impact runs deep—building trust, mobilizing grassroots capital, nurturing discipline, and restoring dignity to everyday commerce.
And Samaha is living proof.
Of course, it is not alone. There are other shining examples across the country. Our dear Tanzeem Investment Cooperative Society in Gombe, for instance, now has members in over 15 states in Nigeria and continues to grow at an impressive pace. Then there is Al Hayat Cooperative Society in Ijebu-Ode—one of the oldest and most successful Islamic cooperatives, with a remarkable legacy of resilience and structured growth. Their stories, however, are for another day—different articles, in shā’ Allāh—because each deserves to be told with the depth and honor it commands.
The truth is simple: when structured around trust, discipline, and shared values, Islamic cooperatives become more than financial platforms—they become institutions of character, solidarity, and sustainable prosperity.
And perhaps the quiet revolution of our time will not be led by towering financial empires, but by faithful, community-driven cooperatives that turn small contributions into lasting transformation.
Amir Lamido
lamidomabudi@gmail.com
Abuja
25 Sha’ba, 1447 (13/02/26)
