The Panel of Judges for the “Every Home A Garden” national competition, initiated by the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, has begun assessment of 396 entries in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Dr Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, Mandate Secretary, Women Affairs Secretariat, FCT Administration, said at the inauguration of the exercise in Abuja on Wednesday, that the winner would go home with N20 million prize.
Members of the panel are Mr Francis Adumoye from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA); Dr Dayo Kusa, a consultant and Mrs Claire Adelabu-Abdulrazak of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
Others are Mrs Uwem Ekomabasi, from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and Mrs Chalya Kumzhi, from FCT Parks and Recreation Department.
Benjamins-Laniyi, who was represented by Hajiya Asmau Mukhtar, the Permanent Secretary in the secretariat, said that the competition was under the First Lady’s Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI).
She said the FCTA was doing all it can to ensure full participation of FCT women in the competition.
She said the competition was being organised to encourage women to grow a garden within their home premises for sustainable access to fresh food for the family.
The initiative, she said, would also increase household’s interest in farming, using any available space in the house.
This, according to her, will trigger a gradual revitalisation of Nigeria’s vast agricultural endowment, beginning from the home, with women taking the lead across the country.
The mandate secretary, who is the Coordinator of the RHI in FCT, said the panel of judges were carefully selected for their knowledge and expertise in the area.
She urged the panel to be unbiased in assessing the entries so that, “we have the best entries that would represent FCT and make us proud at the national level.
“Those who scaled through the first assessment would proceed to the next phase of the competition.”
In her remarks, Ms Deborah Bonire, Coordinator of the competition in the secretariat, expressed confidence in the capacity of the panelists to deliver on their tasks.
Bonire said the competition committee has registered a total of 396 entries across the FCT.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the competition was introduced in July to encourage women across the 36 states of the country to practice home gardening. (NAN)
