The First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has announced that the community category of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) Green Nigeria Challenge ended without attracting any significant entries, despite offering a ₦50 million cash prize.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Mrs Tinubu said the category, which closed on July 15, 2026, was created to encourage communities to transform degraded public spaces—including dumpsites, abandoned land and landfills—into parks, gardens and other environmentally friendly recreational areas.
“Unfortunately, no significant entry was received,” the First Lady stated.
Despite the disappointing outcome, she commended the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, for the remodelling of the Abuja City Gate, describing the project as an example of the type of environmental transformation the competition sought to promote.
Mrs Tinubu urged state governments to replicate similar initiatives by investing in cleaner and greener communities, improving waste management systems and ensuring drainage channels remain free of plastic waste and other obstructions to reduce flooding.
She also encouraged continued participation in the remaining categories of the competition.
According to the First Lady, the Household and State categories of the Green Nigeria Challenge will remain open until December 20, 2026, with entries to be submitted through the Offices of the First Ladies in the respective states.
The Household Category is open to households across 10 frontline northern states—Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara—and offers a ₦20 million prize for outstanding tree-planting initiatives.
The State Category, open to all states except Enugu, which has already been recognised as the RHI’s Model Green State, carries a ₦100 million prize for state-wide environmental and tree-planting programmes.
The now-closed Community Category had invited participation from local governments, youth groups, schools, non-governmental organisations and community associations across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Renewed Hope Initiative Green Nigeria Challenge is a nationwide environmental campaign designed to promote afforestation, restore degraded ecosystems and encourage sustainable environmental practices through community participation and tree-planting initiatives.