DAVID ADUGE-ANI, ABUJA
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), through the Women Affairs Secretariat, has begun mobilisation of entries for the First Lady’s N20m ‘Every Home A Garden” national competition.
Recall that the “Every Home A Garden” national competition is part of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, with the aim of encouraging women to grow a garden within their home premises, as a means of ensuring sustainable and availability of fresh food for the family.
Speaking at a ceremony in Abuja to commence assessment of entries by a panel of jurists, the Mandate Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Women Affairs Secretariat, Dr. Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, explained that the initiative on its wider spectrum, is targeted at redirecting the consciousness of Nigerians towards reactivating interest in farming, beginning from any available space within the premises of every home.
Adedayo, who is the coordinator of First Lady’s RHI in FCT, noted that the idea would trigger gradual revitalisation of Nigeria’s vast agricultural endowments beginning from the home fronts, to the larger expanse of farm lands across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, with women taking the lead.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of Women Affairs Secretariat, Hajiya Asmau Mukhtar, the Mandate Secretary said her office is not leaving any stone unturned in mobilising Garden Entries to ensure that FCT women participate in the competition.
He urged the panel of Jurists to be unbiased in assessing the entries, and ensure that the final outcome of the assessment determines those that would be selected for the next phase of the competition.
She continued, “We carefully nominated all of you for this all-important task, considering your knowledge-driven track records in different fields of your endeavours.
Therefore, we have no doubt that you will deploy your wealth of experience to judiciously assess the Entries before you, so that we have the best Entries that would represent FCT and make us proud at the national level.”
Earlier in a remark, the Women Affairs Secretariat Coordinator of the “Every Home A Garden” competition in the FCT, Deborah Bonire, thanked the Panelists for accepting the rigorous task of assessing the entries, believing that their experience and integrity would go a long way to define the credibility of the entire process.
Members of the Panel of Jurists include, Mr. Francis Adumoye from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Dr. Dayo Kusa, an Abuja-based Consultant, Mrs. Claire Adelabu-Abdulrazak of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Mrs. Uwem Ekomabasi from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and Mrs. Chalya Kumzhi from FCT Parks and Recreation Department.
Our reporter gathered that the “Every Home A Garden” competition star price of N20m would be presented to the winner in December, 2024.