Renewed hope initiative funded by private, corporate donors, says Oluremi Tinubu

First Lady Oluremi Tinubu says her Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) pet project is funded by private and corporate donors.

Oluremi spoke to journalists on Thursday in Abuja after a meeting with wives of governors and other state and regional coordinators of the RHI. 

The first lady said the disclosure is due to enquiries from several quarters. 

“I know people are always saying ‘where do I get the billions from?’ I’m going to address that. We are an NGO; people give us money,” she said.

“Like the food bank we are doing, we have two companies; BUA is one of them. The other one wants to stay anonymous. They gave us a truckload of food, and Mrs Shettima handles that. We go from state to state.

“We also have covered maybe seven states, and BUA is joining in to cover the 36 states; if it is one truck per state, within under two years, we should be able to finish. So, I’m excited that BUA, too, keyed into that.”

Oluremi added that RHI will unveil the three winners of the #EveryHomeAGarden competition by December.

The competition will award N20 million to the winner to encourage small-scale farming in Nigeria.

“We have the unveiling of ‘every home-a-garden’ competition. So very soon, in December, we are ready to announce the winner; we’ve shortlisted three,” the first lady added.

On August 1, Oluremi showcased the first harvest from her farm, in a bid to encourage cottage farming in Nigeria.

She expressed optimism that the competition would help to improve food security and sufficiency in Nigeria.