A Gombe State indigene, Mr. Alkali Jonah Musa, is set to make history in the Guinness Book Records as he targets building a six-to-eight metres World’s Tallest Packaged Food Tower.
Mr. Alkali, from Shongom Local Government Area of Gombe State, told Voice of Nigeria in Gombe that he was set to beat the 3.37 metres record achieved by Heinz Africa and Middle East FTZ and Majid Al Futtaim, both in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate.
The event is taking place on Friday, the 26th of January and the food to be prepared and packaged will be done through the night of Thursday, January 25 and distributed on Friday to Primary School pupils between the ages of 5 to 10.
According to Akali, he is organizing the event to send a message to the world to strategize support to curb food and nutrition insecurity.
Akali said he was motivated to embark on the venture because of his experience in Maiduguri, Borno State, North East Nigeria, where the insurgency left thousands of displaced children homeless and hungry at the Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp.
“When I saw the need, I told myself that I need to give back to my community. I need to bring some modalities where we can help people who are hungry and people who are malnourished,” Alkali said.
He said he took the decision to embark on the venture to raise awareness around the country on the urgent need to provide food for the hungry and the malnourished.
Alkali said the food to be made would consist of a balanced diet, packaged inside about 4, 000 containers and stock piled to a tower.
He gave assurance that the food to be prepared would not get rotten, because its preparation would be on Thursday Night and distributed on Friday morning, in Bagunji, Shongom Local Government Area of the Gombe State.
“We are very careful with the kind of food to cook, because people are going to consume it. We have a Food Inspection Officer that will be there to monitor the cooking process and then equally, we have a Public Health Professional who will be monitoring the environmental hygiene,” said Alkali.
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He said the choice of Bagunji was arrived at because of its location, because it was deserving of such intervention, due to the high number of malnourished children in the area.
According to him, the food will contain all six classes of food, consisting of rice, beans, cabbage, crayfish, as well as other sources of minerals and vitamins.
Alkali said benefiting schools had been notified to bring children within the age bracket to turn up for the consumption of the food to be prepared.
“They will be there with us starting from the A down to the Z part, so they can see what we do and we will be able to tell them how important nutrition can be to every child and how it can support their academic and physical needs,” said Alkali.
He said afterwards, there would be dances to express joy from the accomplishment.
According to him, the Guinness Record is an individual efforts, which is him alone setting the record, but there were some individual and groups to help, such as the Senator Representing Gombe South Senatorial District, Senator Anthony Siyako Yaro, who had committed to supporting the venture, because he saw it as community development.
He also said seven women were being engaged to cook the food and who would appear in their full cooking kit on the day.
Alkali said the entire process was going to be documented as video evidence for the Guinness World Record.
He said he was able to get the approval and obtain the approval reference number of the Guinness Book of Records by applying through its official dashboard, which the organization accepted and made him pass through the standard procedures, such as writing out the design plan, distribution plan, and specific guide.
Overall, he said the course of fighting hunger and malnutrition was a fight for everyone, hence calling on the public to support the venture by turning up, not just to give financially, but also the physical appearance, where they would assist in distributing the food.
“We teach the community that we do not need millions of naira to get the nutritious food we have. But to know what is expected to be in any meal,” said Alkali.
