ZAINAB JUNAID
The Lagos State first lady, Dr. (Mrs) Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu has trained and pledged to fully support 250 women participating in the ongoing Every Home A Garden National Competition, a Renewed Hope Initiative(RHI) Agricultural Support Program of the First Lady of Nigeria and Chairman of RHI, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, CON.
The initiative which aimed at promoting the culture of home farming, encourages families to cultivate home gardens to meet their immediate food needs, is taking place in all 36 states in the Country and overall winner will cart away grand prize of N20 million.
Dr. Mrs Sanwo-Olu disclosed this at a Press Conference and a seminar organized for Lagos State Participants of ‘the Every Home A Garden National Competition’, at Banquet Hall, Ikeja, Lagos, revealing that in addition to the N20 million star prize for the overall winner across the country, participant with outstanding performance in Lagos State will be specially awarded likewise second and third Participants with best gardens.
This support according to her, intend to encourage participants to continue with the spirit of home gardening and inspire others to embrace the practice as Home farming and cultivation of vegetables and other produce of personal consumption are crucial steps that can be taken to ease the burden of risen food cost.
She equally revealed that in line with Mr. President Renewed Hope Initiative, the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu has launched several programs aimed at improving standard of living and addressing poverty. This programs include- Economic Empowerment, Social Investment, Health Interventions, Every Home A program among others.
Speaking on the criteria for each state to participate in the national competition, Dr. Mrs Sanwo-Olu, stated that as directed by the First Lady of Nigeria, the wives of the Governors of each of the 36 States, FCT inclusive, are expected to coordinate the competition in their respective states. “They are to present one participant with the best home garden from their state to the Office of the First Lady of Nigeria ahead of the announcement of the overall winner of the competition in December 2024, and the star prize is N20 Million Naira,” She says.
Speaking further, she said rigorous screening process was carried out to select successful 250 participants from the 1052 expression of interest received from Lagos State residents as various elimination strategies were deployed.
In her words, “A 7-man Committee was constituted to coordinate the competition for interested participants in Lagos State, and 1052 applications was received. This number was further pruned to 757 after disqualifying applicants with double entries, those with incorrect or missing LASRRA numbers, male applicants and applicants above 70 years Old.
“Also in with the criteria given by the Office of the First Lady of Nigeria, which stipulated that participants must be First-Time Farmers, the committee categorized applicants into First-Time Farmers and Experienced Farmers based on the information provided in the Google Form. We identified a total of 382 Experienced Farmers and 375 First-Time Farmers, making a total of 757 applicants. To ensure effective coordination, the number of participants was pegged at 250. This was broken down to 200 from first time farmers and 50 taken from the experienced farmers”.
Also in his remarks, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso extolled the initiative of the First Lady but emphasized more on importance of Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) registration, saying it’s a gateway to having access to multiple opportunities in the state.
