Stories By Stanley Onyekwere
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), through the Women Affairs Secretariat has commenced mobilisation of garden entries towards ensuring that FCT women participate in the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) “Every Home A Garden” competition currently ongoing at state level across the country.
Speaking during a brief ceremony to commence assessment of entries by a panel of jurists, the Mandate Secretary of FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, Dr. Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi explained that the the garden competition is an RHI initiative of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, aimed at encouraging women to grow a garden within their residential premises, as a means of ensuring sustainable availability of fresh food for the family.
Adedayo, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of Women Affairs Secretariat, Hajiya Asmau Mukhtar, added 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.
She opined that the idea would trigger gradual revitalization 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.
The Secretary, who is also the Coordinator of First Lady’s RHI in FCT urged the panel of jurists to be unbiased in assessing the Entries, assuring that the final outcome of the assessment would determine those that would be selected for the next phase of the competition.
According to her, “We carefully nominated all of you for this all-important task, considering your knowledge-driven track records in the different fields of your endeavours.
“Therefore, we have no doubt that you would 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”.
In her remarks at the event, the Women Affairs Secretariat Coordinator of the “Every Home A Garden Competition in FCT, Assistant Director, Deborah Bonire, thanked the panelists for accepting the rigorous task of assessing the competition.
She expressed confidence that the panelists’s pedigree of vast experience and integrity would go a long way to define the credibility of the entire process.
She also disclosed that arrangements are on top gear for a road walk ahead of a mega workshop for all the participants of the competition.
Bonire explained that the aim of the planned road walk and workshop is to further emphasize the clarion call for every home to cue into the garden initiative, and to create a viable ecosystem that would ensure sustainability of the home gardening practice beyond the competition.
Our correspondent reports that 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.
It could be recalled that the first lady had launched the “Every Home A Garden” Competition in July 2024, to encourage women in the 36 States of the Federation and FCT to practice home gardening, as an interventionist initiative to enhance immediate and sustainable food supply in the home and country at large.
However, few weeks earlier, the competition committee had embarked on aggressive media sensitization to alert FCT residents, especially women, on the need to participate in the competition.
Equally, follow up activities were registration of entries and physical inspection of the gardens to ascertain source credibility. The competition committee has registered a total of 396 entries for the competition. And the competition star prize of N20,000,000.00 (Twenty million Naira only), would be presented to the winner in December, 2024.
Also, the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat is partnering with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, as well as FCT Parks and Recreation Department in the “Every Home A Garden” Project.
