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Despite the criticisms that trailed the Nigeria’s First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s charge to women to embrace small businesses like Akara (beans cake), roasted corn, and kuli-kuli, to cushion the effects of economic hardship in the country, she has remained unfazed and unapologetic. At an event in Jigawa State last week, she doubled down on her commitment to support small businesses by revealing that the federal government had given N100 million grant to 2,000 traders in the state. Perhaps, to douse the tension around the First Lady and to declare his open solidarity with her, President Tinubu, at a media parley inside the Aso Villa, made a lighthearted fun of the controversy by calling his wife, ‘Iya Alakara’ (Mama Akara seller). Indeed, the humour achieved its effect. The Akara-selling AI-generated cartoons all over the new media against the first family have now turned to stale jokes. And trust Nigerians, they have a way of laughing off serious national maladies.
Taken from the binoculars of objectivity, it appears that most of those who took the First Lady to the cleaners approached the whole issue with a mindset. Most of the commentators trolled her because of their pent-up anger with the political system. They had no time to check the context before tearing her to shreds. Indeed, the toxicity of surging reactions was enough to cow someone with no thick skin. But not with Remi Tinubu who is not new to the furnace of public tirades.
I liken the scenario to an amusing story that went viral some years back in Malawi. A book titled: ‘HOW TO CHANGE YOUR WIFE IN 30 DAYS’ had sold over 2 million copies within one week of its release, but when the author discovered that the title had a minor but effectual typo (the word ‘wife’ should have been ‘life’); and was corrected, the sales reportedly plummeted to only 3 copies in one month. The moral of the story as deduced from the chat of IPPIS Public Servant Discussion Group in August 14, 2022, is that “Nobody wants to change himself/herself, but they’ll do everything to change someone else.” Another unfortunate angle to it is that many netizens always rush to pass judgments based on sensationalism of headlines without patiently going through the entire story and challenge it with alternatives that can feed into the policy space.
Now, let us get into the context of the First Lady’s Akara (beans cake) poverty alleviation model. In the last week of June, she hosted a second-quarter meeting with the wives of state governors at the State House, Abuja under the Renewed Hope Initiative which provides support to vulnerable Nigerians. After the meeting, she addressed the press. Some of the things she said is presented thus: “I remember giving for TB. When I heard there were so many TB cases, I gave N2 billion. To breast cancer, I gave N1 billion. For food malnutrition, I gave half a billion… we’re trying to give hope, and to start Akara business doesn’t take a lot of money. To start roasting corn, or somebody even said kuli kuli doesn’t take much. We didn’t give them loan; we gave it to them as a grant…I have given, and I keep giving,” she said. She further noted that there were interventions by way of scholarships, ICT trainings, support for agriculture and social investments.
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Ordinarily, the counsel from the First Lady shouldn’t have raised dusts. It ought to be taken in good faith as it reinforces the power of small beginnings. After all, Nigerian know that the office of the First Lady is unconstitutional and should not have any budget line. Nigerians have not forgotten that they criticized the allocation of billions of Naira for purchase of vehicles for the same office. But the annoyance stemmed from the fact that the policies introduced and superintended by the First Lady’s husband left the economy in a freewheel. There is no strict plan to moderate excesses. Corruption is brazened out. Nobody is even sure that the bandied figures reached the targeted persons. Over a 100 million population has been pauperized and pushed to the rank of the multi-dimensionally poor. Those in government who preach to others to make sacrifices live in opulence with reckless abandon. So, such stipends in form of grants made no sense to the critics vis-a-vis the low purchasing power of the nation’s currency. Others see the gesture as an image-laundering stunt and self-promotional build-up as the 2027 elections approach. This is where the backlash is situated.
In fact, the percentage of the demographics who attacked the First lady would largely belong to GenZ and millennials. Most of the beneficiaries of the grants may not have android phones. They are largely rural women who are happy with the succour. They don’t read the IMF projections and NBS statistics. They are not aware of the implications of the country’s rising sovereign debt. And, the irony is that during the elections, they are more likely to reward the person who gave them the money.
The real issue is here is that the informal economy that employs more than 70% of Nigeria’s workforce and a key driver of our country’s GDP, needs more than stipends to lift millions out poverty. The sector needs protective policies against the vagaries of hostile business environment. Getting access to credit is not the only challenge faced by the sector. Though the money from the First Lady means a lot to small-scale traders and service providers, operational costs can erode the gains instantly. Emmanuel Salako of Dataphyte reported in October 2025 that “rising costs are squeezing the already thin profit margins of Nigeria informal workers.”
Beyond the First Lady’s interventions, federal government and state governments should prioritize investment of billions of naira in yearly budgets to support MSMEs. Our deposit money banks are not helping matters. Let the nation have a clear plan to increase the people’s purchasing power. Can we have a return to (YOUWIN!) business support model in different economic categories?
