There is a new competition in town and it is called “The African Jollof Rice Challenge”. The cooking contest which seeks to discover the country that has the best jollof rice in Africa will have representatives of different African countries slug it out and aim at the $5000 (N1.8m) grand prize money.
The organizer of the show, Brand Television Network, Btv; a lifestyle and entertainment television network’s aim, according to the executive producer of the cooking competition, Felix King, is to rest the argument on which country has the best jollof rice. This argument has grown into a very strong continental debate, which has dominated both conventional and social media spaces.

“This debate sprang up from a statement by Lai Muhammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Information that, “Senegalese Jollof Rice is the best and a counter claim by our Vice President, Yemi Osibajo that, “We all know that Nigerian Jollof Rice is the best anywhere. We beat the Ghanaians and Senegalese hands down.”

Since then, jollof rice lovers have taken to all media platforms to present their perspectives on which country’s jollof rice is the best in Africa.

“There is no official position yet on which country has the best jollof rice in Africa, hence, the Btv’s desire to unravel the mystery through this contest,” said King.

Ororo Pattaya Otono, an Executive Producer with Btv said the challenge would start with an online recipe contest, where the best contestants will be selected for the live screening and then the grand finale. He said the programme would come to a flourishing end at the Reward Night that will be used to mark the World Jollof Rice Day on Tuesday, August 22.