First Ladies in states across Nigeria have been advised to follow the recent steps taken by Senator Remi Tinubu in her effort to encourage subsistence farming.
Analysts believe that subsistence farming by citizens is one of the ways to end food scarcity in the country. A video of Remi, wife of President Bola Tinubu, planting in a garden in Aso Rock recently surfaced with the First Lady advocating for gardens within Nigerian homes.
Hon Mufutau Egberongbe, a former member of the House of Representatives, said Senator Tinubu’s concept must be given the needed impetus by wives of governors in the country as further encouragement to citizens.
“The wife of the President is pushing this positive idea and I think she should not be alone. The concept needs to be expanded by every citizen but more through encouragement by wives of governors.”
“It is not compulsory that we must all have big farms. The idea is to have crops in little quantities planted in spaces around our houses.”
“You can only imagine the outcome of this if every house in the country is able to grow one crop or the other for family consumption. Apart from the health benefits of eating fresh foods, it would also impact on the amount we spend on food.”
“If the wives of governors in Nigeria can all buy into this idea and push the advocacy to residents in their various states, we will achieve higher than the desired goal.”
“The wives of governors should not only take a clue from the First Lady, they should also expand it to the wives of local government chairmen,” Egberongbe, who represented Apapa federal constituency at the House of Representatives between 2019 and 2023, said.
He expressed optimism that the agricultural programmes and policies as highlighted by President Tinubu in his recent speech, will put the nation back on track.
“But on the interim lets do subsistence farming and encourage the greening of our environments,” he advised while urging protesters to dialogue with the government.