First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has unveiled the RHI Green Nigeria Challenge, a nationwide environmental competition aimed at families, youth groups, communities, and states to engage in tree planting and environmental cleanliness.
She unveiled the Challenge at the quarterly meeting with Wives of State Governors and Coordinators of the RHI.
The Challenge, with the motto “Go Green Today for a Greener Tomorrow,” is in three categories, Households, Communities and State, offering a grand prize of N20 million for the best-performing household, N50 million for the best Community and N100 million for the best State.
At the event, the First Lady presented a N100 million cheque to Enugu State, recognised by RHI as the “Model Green State”. “They earned it.
“It’s not only in planting trees, but in environmental cleanliness. If you go to Enugu, Enugu is clean.”
She recounted a conversation with the Wife of the Enugu State Governor, praising the proactive approach of the government to tackling environmental issues:
“When she sees anything that the Governor doesn’t want to see—any litter around —they call and fix it immediately. And I think that’s the best way to go,” the First Lady said.
The RHI Green Nigeria Challenge is divided into three categories. The Household Category focuses on 11 northern states: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara; vulnerable to desertification, encouraging tree planting with a minimum of one tree per household to qualify.
The Community Category invites local governments, youth groups, schools, and NGOs nationwide to reclaim and transform degraded or abandoned spaces into parks, gardens and eco-friendly areas.
The State Category involves competition among states (excluding Enugu, which has already been rewarded) based on tree coverage along major roads and inner streets) encouraging tree planting.
On the motivation behind the initiative, the First Lady of Nigeria shared her personal history and inspiration
“As a biologist, I’ve always loved to go clean. During the time my husband was Governor of Lagos State, I used to go clean clogged drains. I was young, and I used a lot of energy,” Senator Tinubu said.
She emphasized leading by example: “People have to see you do what you want them to do. And it’s more appealing and attractive that way.”
Reflecting on her experience at an international level, Senator Oluremi Tinubu recalled attending the G20 summit in Brazil with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
“One of the things they are going to be looking at is plastic waste. Every country is buying into it, cleaning their oceans and waterways because the fauna in the sea is being affected by waste dumped into the sea,” the First Lady said.
She highlighted ongoing efforts by the RHI to address this issue which includes RHI’s collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment.
“We are working with the Minister of Environment. We’ve had several meetings, including one in Lagos, and teams have visited Ghana to learn more.”
She disclosed that the RHI will be working with the Ministry to establish Environmental Clubs for Senior Secondary Schools and Environmental Societies for Tertiary Institutions with its modalities still being finetuned.
The RHI Green Nigeria Challenge is poised to inspire a nationwide commitment to a cleaner and greener environment, with key submission deadlines set for 2026
Interested participants are advised learn more and submit entries at www.rhinitiative.org.
