The ‘Jollof Rice’ debate has been raging for quite some time now. This simple dish made with rice, tomatoes and spices, which can be found in several West African countries and the African Diaspora, has become the subject of hilarious rows. The controversy took an unexpected international turn last week when the  CNN anchor Richard Quest who was visiting Nigeria, asked the Nigerian Minister for Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who he thought had the best Jollof Rice. Now the two major contestants in this Jollof Rice debate have been Ghana and Nigeria. The age old rivalry between Ghana and Nigeria is nothing new. I lived and worked in Ghana for ten years, and in a way I still live there. The Ghanaians might have agreed to a Nigerian edge when it comes to money, entrepreneurship, film-making, assertiveness and so on, but they are not about to let Nigeria get away with the Jollof Rice one. When Minister Lai Mohammed gave his response to Richard Quest, he said Senegal had the best Jollof rice. Social media went into meltdown and the poor Minister found himself being deported virally to his new country, Senegal.

The Senegalese have never really waded into the Jollof debate that much because not only are the origins of Jollof rice traceable to the Senegambia region, the Senegalese version of Jollof known locally as Thieboudienne or Benachin is somewhat different from the Ghanaian and Nigerian version. Confident in the originality and superiority of their own version of the dish, the Senegalese have left their West African brethren to continue fighting over whose Jollof is better. Their silence has been rewarded, voila – they have been declared winners of a competition they did not register for. I have eaten Jollof rice in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ghana, and other West African countries. Let us just say the Jollof wars are real! Since this Jollof rice debate is not going away any time soon, in the interests of regional peace and security, I am hereby proposing a West African Jollof Rice Institute, probably to be located in ECOWAS.  I present below ten reasons why this Institute is needed.

1. THE WEST AFRICAN JOLLOF INSTITUTE WILL CREATE JOBS.

Thousands of West African youth will be trained as Jollof Chefs. The Institute will have a faculty drawn from all the countries in the region that have Jollof rice as a local dish. The skills of the Jollof Chefs will be in high demand. As the institute develops its curriculum, they might be able to set up different units for ‘Gambian Jollof’, ‘Ghanaian Jollof’, ‘Nigerian Jollof’ , ‘Senegalese Jollof’ and so on.

2. COUNTRIES IN THE REGION WILL WORK HARDER ON BOOSTING AGRICULTURE.

You can’t win a Jollof rice war with no rice. Importing rice is unsustainable. The more local rice we grow the better we are at food security and we won’t have to worry about running out of rice to compete with. There will also be enhanced production of vegetables and spices. The Jollof Institute will play a key role in ensuring there is an unending supply of vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, and carrots and spices such as ginger and garlic. There will also be a huge demand for cooking oil. All this will create millions of jobs.  In addition, plantains are key to enjoying a good dish of Jollof Rice. Fried plantains known as ‘Dodo’ in Nigeria, ‘Kelewele in Ghana’ and ‘Acheke’ in Cameroon are such divine culinary pleasures.  Fishery will receive attention too because the Senegalese use fish for their Jollof. Scarcity of any or a combination of these ingredients will place the countries concerned at a disadvantage in the ‘Jollof Wars’.

3. THE JOLLOF INSTITUTE WILL AID HUMAN SECURITY IN THE REGION

Some of the challenges West African countries face with their open borders is the alarming rate of trafficking in persons, especially children. The Jollof Institute will have programs to ensure that trafficking is addressed, for example ensuring that no child labour is involved in the making of Jollof Rice. It will also be important to ensure that promising Jollof Chefs are not kidnapped to work in other countries. Another security concern in the West Africa region has been the flow of illicit small arms. The Jollof Institute will take steps to ensure that its brand is not affected by unscrupulous characters hiding weapons in trailers of rice or vegetables. Any country with an alarming rate of convicted criminals might be suspended from participating in the activities of the institute.

4. THE JOLLOF INSTITUTE WILL HELP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

The Jollof Institute will aid in the fight against corruption in a number of ways. To start with it will highlight the importance of merit. You either know how to cook Jollof Rice or you don’t. You cannot gain admission into the Jollof Institute without passing the entry examination of cooking a Jollof Rice dish to determine your level of competence. You cannot serve as a Lecturer of the Institute if you cannot show your original certificate from the college you graduated from. This ensures that the academic standards of the Institute remain high. During competitions, there will be checks to ensure that money is not being laundered in bags of onions or rice. Every country’s Financial Crimes Unit will have a Jollof Rice Department to ensure that only local rice is used for competitions and that ingredients are purchased properly with transactions documented.

5. IT WILL HELP THE LANGUAGE SKILLS OF OUR CHILDREN.

Many of our public and private schools in the English speaking countries of West Africa teach French. The Francophone countries teach English as well. We have no way of knowing how much French or English our children are really learning. Therefore, the Jollof Institute will hold an annual Jollof Rice Debate for West African Schools. The English speaking students will debate in French and the French speakers will debate in English. The debate topic will be straightforward, ‘Why my country’s Jollof Rice is the Best’. The debate will be broadcast live in our countries (thank you DSTV) and we can hear our children argue, ‘The Jollof rice of Nigeria is full basket onions sweet salt’ and ‘In Senegal, Jollof kill carrot et lion hunger’.

6. THE JOLLOF INSTITUE WILL TAKE HEALTH ISSUES VERY SERIOUSLY.

The high profile of Jollof rice and the rate of consumption in the region might trigger an unprecedented level of obesity and lifestyle diseases. The Jollof Institute will run campaigns on healthy living. The Institute will also invest in awareness raising in local communities where people are in the habit of lynching ‘suspects’ who they claim have a hand in the sudden death of their prominent citizens.

7. THE JOLLOF INSTITUTE WILL MAKE THE WORLD JOLLOF RICE DAY BIGGER AND BETTER.

Do you know that World Jollof Rice day is August 22^nd? When we have our institute, this day will no longer be a fringe activity organized by dedicated foodies. Big corporate players will struggle to sponsor the event by camping Jollof Chef Teams from each country, hiring scores of ‘Consultants’, usually older women from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria who have been cooking Jollof rice for decades. Chinese traders will manufacture thousands of T. Shirts for ‘Team Senegal’, ‘Team Nigeria’, ‘Team Ghana’ and so on. World Jollof Rice Day will be a public holiday in all West African countries. The Jollof Institute will also issue guidelines for non-African countries, individuals and entities taking part in World Jollof Day. There will be none of Jamie Oliver’s foolishness, remember his #Jollofgate of2014 when he recommended that coriander, parsley and lemon be added to Jollof Rice. The backlash was sufficiently swift and significant and he has wisely left our Jollof Rice alone.

8. BIG BROTHER AFRICA JOLLOF REALITY SHOW

In Eastern and Southern Africa, a lot of the cuisine is quite bland, and they have a limited capacity to deal with hot spices. There is however a new generation who are more adventurous. In order to spread the gospel of ‘Jollof Rice’ across the continent, there will be a Big Brother Jollof Reality Show. Participants from across Africa will be put in the house for one month to learn and teach each other how to make Jollof Rice. The public can vote for contestants of their choice. The winner will receive many great prizes.  For this reality show, nudity will be unnecessary and drinking might be dangerous since cooking gas, knives and hot pans will be in use most of the time. Participants might not be able to engage in nookie either, because there will be too much ginger and onions on people’s breath, and it is hard to get rid of the smell of cooking oil. This will please the moral police.

9. JOLLOF RICE WILL BE A GLOBAL BRAND

The Jollof Institute will develop partnerships with international bodies to further the interests of Jollof Rice. The United Nations will not only endorse World Jollof Day, all UN Agencies will set aside resources for research, training and capacity building on Jollof Rice issues. There will be collaborations with Michelin Star restaurants around the world, partnerships with hotel chains and Jollof Rice stands at strategic international cultural festivals. Any Michelin Star restaurant that wants to serve Jollof Rice must have a ‘Jollof Chef in Residence’, trained at the original Jollof Institute. Jollof rice will be on the menu at G8 meetings, and the World Economic Forum will commission a study on ‘The Global Competitiveness of Jollof Rice’. There will be discussions with WHO and regional blocs such as the EU about the amount of hot pepper that can go into Jollof rice for ‘other palates’. The World Trade Organisation, responsible for protecting copyrights, will be involved should countries like France and China decide to set up their own Jollof Institute.  It should however be noted that there will be no globalized standards for the calorie content of Jollof rice. That would be very difficult.

10. POLITICIANS WILL LEARN FROM THE MAKING OF JOLLOF RICE

A Jollof Institute will mean a lot for governance and politics in West Africa and Africa as a whole. Politicians will have to demonstrate what they have learnt from the cooking of Jollof Rice. You cannot cook Jollof rice without a clear vision , a good plan, assembling and using top quality ingredients, learning from previous culinary disasters and mistakes, inter-generational skills exchange and time management.  Also, schools of Diplomacy, International Relations, Mass Communication and Public relations in West Africa had better add ‘The Delicate Issue of Culinary Patriotism’ to their curriculum.

These are my thoughts on a West African Jollof Rice Institute. I hope this gets taken up.  Back to the question of whose Jollof Rice is better. On graduation, the number of job offers the Jollof Chefs with the different specialties get, might be an indicator of whose Jollof is indeed better.

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Gender Specialist, Social Entrepreneur and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She can be reached at BAF@abovewhispers.com