Kunle Adelabu
-Oriwu College emerges Best In local Food Cooking Competition
The Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture, Lagos State, Mrs Abisola Ruth Olusanya, has commended Ikorodu – Oga Development Association (IKODASS) and the entire Ikorodu people for their efforts in preserving their indigenous food.
Ms Olusanya gave the commendations on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, during the Cooking Competition at the Food Festival Day which was part of the activities in the ongoing 30th Oga-Day Carnival holding at the Ikorodu Town Hall.
She said that staging the food festival continuously will enhance promotion of indigenous foods and make farm produce available to residents.
The premier College in Ikorodu Division and one of the best public schools in Nigeria, Oriwu Senior Model College, lkorodu, scored 90 points to beat other 12 schools in the local food cooking competition.
The school prepared ‘Akara Oka’ (Boiled beans), a food exclusively indigenous to Ikorodu people but which is fast going into extinction.
United High School, Ikorodu, and Kingsfield Schools, came second and third with 83 and 77 points respectively at the cooking competition witnessed by His Royal Majesty, Oba (Engr.) Kabir Adewale Shotobi, the Ayangbure of Ikorodu and Otunba (Sir) Ayodele Elesho, the Agbaakin of Ikorodu Kingdom among other dignitaries.
The first and second runners– up schools prepared ‘Akara –Egusi’ and ‘Ebiripo with Egusi soup’ respectively.
The Commissioner, who spoke at the event through his represtentative, Mr Hakeem Adeniji, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, described the food festival as commendable.
“The initiative of organizing this Food Festival by IKODASS is very commendable”, the Commissioner said.
“There is a need to do more festivals like this to promote indigenous foods and ensure their preservation, like what we have all seen here today with the cooking competition among students in secondary schools.
“This is a good way to preserve these foods and prevent them from going into extinction”, she said.
The Commissioner, while also speaking on the activities of her Ministry, said that 30, 000 youths and women have so far been empowered across the state as part of the strategic intervention in enhancing the capacity of Smallholder farmers.
She said that a greater percentage of projects embarked upon by the government in the promotion of food security are located within the Ikorodu Division.
“As part of the strategic intervention in enhancing the capacity of the Smallholder Farmers through the Agricultural Value Chain Enterprise Activation Programme with the aim of transforming agribusiness ventures, creating employment and improving the standard of living of the citizens by providing intervention and support in the form of input and productive asset to agricultural value chain actors especially small holder farmers and youths, the Ministry of Agriculture empowered over 30,000 youths and women across the State and is set to do more”, she said.
“It gladdens my heart to state that a greater percentage of these initiatives/projects are located in the Ikorodu division of the State. These projects include:
“The State is presently constructing a 32mt/h mill in furtherance to achieving food security. The 32mt/h mill on completion will consume about 200,000 tons of paddy annually. The Mill, when completed, will produce 115,200Mt of milled Rice per annum which is equivalent to 2,304,000 bags of 50kg. It will also provide employment opportunities for over 250,000 citizens along the value chain;
“Cattle feedlot at Imota which was established to provide wholesome meat and its products to the citizens of the State;
“Wholesale food produce hub set to redesign the market;
“Erikorodo Poultry Farm Estate – The estate is situated on 80 hectares of land and provides supporting facilities, such as a 10,000-bird capacity mechanized broiler house, a 12-ton daily capacity feed mill and a 2,000-bird daily capacity poultry processing plant;
“Ikorodu Farm Settlement – Allottees are cultivating 16.5ha of land; Odogunyan Fish Settlement – situated on 34ha of land with over 250 allottees engaged in fish production; Gberigbe Piggery Farm- 500 allottees engaged in piggery production; and Imota Farm Settlement – Allottees are cultivating 150ha of crop and livestock production”, she said.
Oba Shotobi, in his royal message, commended the participating schools for learning how to cook food that are indigenous to Ikorodu and helping in there preservation.
The revered monarch, who also declared the ‘Oja Oba’ (King’s market) section of the Food festival opened with tour in the company of other dignitaries, also commended IKODASS under the chairmanship of Mr Rotimi Erogbogbo, for coming up with the laudable initiative .
The IKODASS Chairman, Mr Erogbogbo, in his address, thanked the royal father, commissioner and other dignitaries at the event for gracing the occasion and appreciated the efforts of the participating students in cooking local foods peculiar to Ikorodu.
He said that the introduction of the cooking competition as part of the food festival, is part of his administration’s efforts in changing the narratives.
Erogbogbo also said that it is a way of making the younger generation know about the indigenous foods that are now going into extinction and encourage them to preserve it.
He also announced that IKODASS would be sponsoring some of the students to attend the national food festival in Abuja.
“We are not stopping here because this will be a continuous event. We are also going to sponsor some of the best participants in the food cooking competition to the national food festival in Abuja where we shall be registering the recipe for our indigenous foods at the National Library in Abuja”, he said to the cheering crowd.
The IKODASS Chairman also said that the ‘Oja Oba’ was introduced to make farm produce available to the residents at farm price.
Other schools that participated in the local food cooking competition were Agbede Senior Grammar School, Agbede (Ikokore), Odogunyan Senior Grammar School (Ikokore), Isiwu Senior Grammar School, Isiwu (Yam Porridge), Ayangbure Senior High School, Ikorodu (Ikokore), Community Senior Grammar School (Yam Porridge), Keme Baloigun, ibeshe (Yam Porridge), Fountain Superstar Ville Schools (Ebiripo with Egusi Soup), Kingsfield College (Ebiripo with Egusi Soup), Kit & Kin Schools (Ebiripo with Egusi Soup) and Ikorodu Senior high School, Ikorodu (Akara Egusi).
Later in the day and as part of the Oga Day celebration, members of the Tailoring and Hairdressing Associations in lkorodu, took the stage to entertain the royal family, dignitaries and large audience as they showcased various breathtaking attires and hair styles in demonstration of their professional talents.
