New Jollof Rice Project Set to Feed 10,000 Children in Lagos

Mary Nnah

A new Jollof rice project tagged NAIJA Jollof championed by IAMBRANDNIGERIA has been launched and it is set to break the Guinness Book Record by feeding 10000 street children in Lagos.

Revealing this at the 2019 IAMBRANDNIGERIA Award/Gala, where Top 50 Most Valuable Brands in Nigeria were honoured in Lagos, Mr. Taiwo Oluboyede, CEO of IAM BRANDNIGERIA said, “We are setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest serve of Jollof rice in Nigeria next year.”

According to him, “Jollof is becoming the most engaging topic in both Anglo and Francophone African countries, just like football. Food brings people together.”

“Come next year, sixty top chefs will be cooking six tonnes of rice in a single pot and we are feeding 10,000 children in Lagos, many of them on the street. This has been described as a one of the largest humanitarian endeavours in our country, where that number of people are touched in a single day,” Oluboyede disclosed.

He said, “It is a combination of Jollof and the best of Nigerian music in one place.”

Describing the size of the pot, volume of rice and number of chef to cook the Jollof, the IAMBRANDNIGERIA CEO said, “The 4.5 diameter pot, one of the largest in the world will be displayed on the street before donation to the museum where people can see and get inspired. One of the exciting things about this project is that the pot is made here in Nigeria.”

Jollof has gone beyond just an ordinary food. It is now a fashion statement, a common language and heritage to about 500 million people across West Africa and beyond.

He said, Jollof has created a healthy ‘rivalry’ amongst West African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and others. We wouldn’t pass any little opportunity to show we have the best of it. You can understand why every food and seasoning brands are delighted in putting us against each other. It is also a sensational trending topic on social media.

With smart foods being an integral part of the country’s budding e-commerce platforms, Oluboyede stated that “Now, as the largest producer of rice in Africa, we have the necessary element to make Jollof a Nigeria’s brand collateral by becoming an undisputable authority in it. The benefits are immeasurable, in tourism, rice value chain, innovation, even job creation.”

He said. This will be happening at the #IAMBRANDNIGERIA National Food festival, a thrilling food and drink event, where thousands will be exciting their taste buds with plethora of Nigerian dishes.

“It is also a Jollof + Music with popular Nigerian performance entertaining guests at the event.”

Stating further, he said, history has shown that record breaking is a strategic way of attracting attention to People, Places and Products and Guinness World Record has become a marketing tool for nations and businesses looking to attract customers and investors.

From every indication, this is expected to be one of the top 3 most talked about and engaging events of 2020 in Nigeria, because of the popularity and the social media frenzy that always accompanies the subject.

He said, this world record is expected to create a global media awareness and appeal about us, our opportunities and tourism sector as the news breaks on global and local news platforms. It’s also a sense of pride for us as a people as we showcase opportunities in our rice value chains.

Other very important benefit is that it enhances innovation and creativity, considering the fact that the record pot, one of the largest in the world, the rice and every other ingredients and process are all Nigeria made. This makes many people strive for excellence and aspire to set or break records at different areas of endeavour.

He concluded by saying that I look forward to someday that Nigeria can use record breaking event to make enticing narrative about the country as the Emirates did here in its campaign.

“We are the centre of shopping and entertaining, now when you come to Dubai, you land in the largest airport, which is a record, you can take the metro which is the longest driverless metro, to see also the largest shopping mall in the world, next to the tallest hotel in the world,” he said.

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