Wife of Lagos State governor, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, yesterday announced Mrs Nwankwo Adaeze Glory from the Epe Division of Lagos State, as the winner of the Lagos edition of the ‘Every Home A Garden’ competition.

The woman, who was announced the winner at the Lagos House, Ikeja, also carted away the N2.5 million prize.

The competition was under the Agriculture and Food Security Programme of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) of Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu.

The aim of the competition meant only for women, was to encourage Nigerians especially women folk to go into agriculture by planting a garden at home in order to address food shortages across the country.

Mrs Sanwo-Olu said though Lagos did not produce the overall national winner who went away with N20 million, Adaeze ‘s exceptional performance at the national competition earned her a prize money of N1 million from the Nigeria First Lady and an additional N500,000 from the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADFUND).

In appreciation of her performance, Sanwo-Olu gave Adaeze another N1 million as the overall winner in Lagos, taking her winning prize to N2.5 million.

In addition, she announced a cash prize of N500,000 for each of the four winners with the best gardens from the remaining four divisions of Lagos; Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Badagry and Ikeja .

She also announced that all the 152 participants who made it to the grand finale would receive N100,000 each.

“I want to encourage you to sustain the home gardening passion, incorporate it into your daily lives and make it a sustainable way of life,” she urged the participants.

On whether the competition will take place next year, Sanwo-Olu expressed her commitment to sustaining the initiative but stated that she would wait for the signal from the Nigeria First Lady whether to continue or not.

Wife of the Deputy Governor, Lagos State, Oluremi Hamzat, said the competition was a ‘testament we can achieve greater Lagos.’

The Chairman, Office of the First Lady Farmer’s committee, Ayo Afuwape said the committee visited gardens presented by 90 per cent of the participants, adding that various criteria were used to determine the best.

According to him, some of the criteria include a variety of crops planted, space management, pest control strategies, community impact of the garden, and use of social media to promote the initiative among others.

He added that 1,052 applications were received which was later reduced to 757 from which the final 250 were chosen to participate.

The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun commended Oluremi Tinubu for the initiative and Sanwo-Olu for ensuring the success of the programme in Lagos State.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso said many Nigerians are now paying attention to agriculture within the home.

“The programme has generated lots of interest. We should revive farming; we need to feed ourselves. I thank the First Lady for taking up this challenge,” he said.

Some of the participants also commended the two First Ladies for the programme.