By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A former federal lawmaker from Lagos State, Mr Mufutau Egberongbe, has charged First Ladies of the 36 states of the federation to embrace subsistence farming to address food scarcity in the country.
He said Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of President Bola Tinubu, has laid a good foundation for wives of governors to follow.
Early last month, a video showing Mrs Tinubu planting vegetables in a garden in the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the seat of power, surfaced online. Last week, the First Lady displayed pictures of her harvest for all to see.
Reacting to this, Mr Egberongbe, who was at the House of Representatives between 2019 and 2023 to represent Apapa Federal Constituency, tasked others to create gardens in their homes to plant crops.
He noted that Mrs 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 small quantities planted in spaces around our houses.
“You can only imagine the outcome of this if every house in the country can grow one crop or the other for family consumption. Apart from the health benefits of eating fresh foods, it would also impact 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,” he stated.
The politician expressed optimism that the agricultural programmes and policies of President Tinubu would put the nation back on track.
“But in the interim, let us do subsistence farming and encourage the greening of our environments,” he advised.