Nigeria's First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has renewed her call for Nigerians to embrace home gardening as a practical solution to rising food costs and improved household food security after harvesting fresh vegetables from the Presidential Villa garden in Abuja. The harvest, conducted on Monday, is part of her Every Home A Garden initiative, a programme aimed at encouraging families to cultivate vegetables in available spaces around their homes.
According to information released on Tuesday by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the Presidential Villa garden continues to yield a variety of vegetables nearly two years after it was established. The latest harvest included spinach, waterleaf and fluted pumpkin.
After the exercise, the First Lady distributed part of the freshly harvested vegetables to members of her staff, saying the initiative not only provides households with access to nutritious, home-grown food but also encourages a culture of sharing.
Oluremi Tinubu has consistently promoted home gardening as a simple yet effective way of improving household nutrition, reducing food expenses and strengthening food resilience, particularly at a time when many Nigerians continue to struggle with soaring food prices.
The Presidential Villa garden was launched in July 2024 under the Renewed Hope Initiative as a demonstration project designed to show that vegetable farming is possible even in homes with limited space.
The Every Home A Garden campaign is targeted mainly at women and families, encouraging them to make productive use of available land around their homes to supplement household food supplies.
Her renewed advocacy comes just weeks after she became the subject of widespread public debate over comments urging vulnerable Nigerians to explore small-scale businesses.
Speaking during an interview on her social investment programmes, the First Lady said this included "frying akara, roasting corn and producing kuli-kuli," noting that such ventures required minimal start-up capital. She also stated that the Federal Government was providing grants rather than loans to support beneficiaries.
The remarks drew mixed reactions across social media, with many Nigerians arguing that recommending petty trading amid widespread economic hardship suggested a disconnect from the realities facing millions of citizens.
Others, however, defended the first lady, maintaining that her comments were made within the context of empowerment programmes specifically designed for low-income and vulnerable groups, rather than as a general prescription for all Nigerians.
The debate later gave rise to the viral nickname "Iya Alakara", which gained further attention after President Bola Tinubu jokingly referred to his wife by the moniker during the inaugural Presidential Press Corps Dinner at the State House.
The controversy resurfaced again after the Tinubu Media Centre shared an AI-generated image depicting the First Lady selling akara, reigniting public discussion over her earlier remarks.