By: Ike Philip Abiagom
When Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, encouraged vulnerable women to consider small-scale businesses such as frying akara, roasting corn, and selling roasted plantain, her remarks quickly became the subject of intense public debate.
Social media platforms were flooded with criticism, jokes, and political commentary, with many Nigerians interpreting the statement as evidence that the country’s leadership was out of touch with the economic realities confronting ordinary citizens.
While these reactions reflected genuine concerns about rising living costs and economic hardship, they may have overlooked the broader message behind the First Lady’s remarks.
The comments were made during the Renewed Hope Initiative empowerment programme, where grants—not loans—were distributed to vulnerable women to support income-generating ventures. The emphasis was not merely on akara or roadside trading; it was about creating opportunities, promoting self-reliance, and helping women build sustainable livelihoods.
Across Nigeria, thousands of women depend on micro-businesses for survival. Every morning, they leave their homes before sunrise to prepare food, arrange goods, and head to markets, schools, motor parks, and busy streets. Some fry akara, others roast corn, sell fruits, vegetables, cooked meals, pap, kuli-kuli, or other affordable products that meet daily consumer needs.
These women are not waiting for opportunities to arrive. They are creating them.
Though often overlooked, such businesses pay school fees, cover medical expenses, provide food for families, and contribute significantly to household income. In many cases, they are the difference between financial stability and poverty.
Yet this reality was largely absent from the public conversation that followed the First Lady’s comments.
The debate focused almost entirely on the word “akara,” while overlooking the countless women who have built successful enterprises from modest beginnings. Their stories rarely trend online, but they represent the resilience and entrepreneurial spirit that sustain many communities across Nigeria.
There are numerous examples of women who started with little more than a cooking pot, a stove, and a small amount of capital. Over time, some expanded into restaurants, catering services, and wholesale food supply businesses. Others trained apprentices who later established businesses of their own.
These stories demonstrate a simple truth: successful entrepreneurship often begins with humble steps.
Nigeria’s informal economy remains one of the largest in Africa, employing millions of people through petty trading, agriculture, transportation, tailoring, hairdressing, welding, carpentry, and other small enterprises. Collectively, these activities play a vital role in economic growth and poverty reduction.
Women occupy a central place within this ecosystem. Despite inflation, rising transportation costs, and increasing prices of raw materials, they continue to adapt and serve their communities through determination and hard work.
This does not mean the country’s economic challenges should be ignored. Inflation continues to affect households and businesses alike, increasing the cost of food, cooking gas, transportation, and essential commodities.
However, acknowledging these realities should not prevent Nigerians from recognizing practical interventions where they exist.
One notable aspect of the Renewed Hope Initiative is its provision of grants rather than loans. For women with limited access to finance, grants remove the burden of repayment and provide an opportunity to invest directly in income-generating ventures.
Economic empowerment rarely occurs through a single dramatic intervention. More often, it is a gradual process. A woman starts a small food business, builds a customer base, saves part of her earnings, acquires better equipment, employs additional hands, and eventually expands her operations.
Nigeria has countless examples of such success stories.
At the same time, many Nigerians rightly argue that government must continue creating quality jobs in sectors such as manufacturing, technology, healthcare, agriculture, and education. This remains a critical responsibility.
Yet supporting micro-enterprises and pursuing large-scale economic reforms are not mutually exclusive objectives.
A comprehensive development strategy should accommodate both approaches. While governments invest in infrastructure and long-term economic growth, they should also provide immediate opportunities for vulnerable citizens to improve their livelihoods.
For many women, particularly widows and mothers, flexible businesses such as food vending offer a practical means of earning income while caring for their families. Dismissing these occupations ignores the dignity of labour and the sacrifices made by millions of hardworking Nigerians.
Beyond this debate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu has continued to champion programmes focused on women, children, healthcare, education, nutrition, agriculture, and social welfare through the Renewed Hope Initiative. Whether or not one agrees with every government policy, programmes that provide practical support for vulnerable citizens deserve objective evaluation.
Public discourse is strongest when it accommodates both criticism and constructive engagement. Nigerians have every right to demand better governance and improved living conditions. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge initiatives that promote entrepreneurship, productivity, and self-reliance.
Ultimately, the controversy surrounding the First Lady’s comments offers an important lesson: perspective matters.
For a woman struggling to feed her family, a grant to start a small business may represent hope. For a mother determined to keep her children in school, frying akara may be the first step toward financial independence. For another entrepreneur, today’s roadside stall could become tomorrow’s thriving enterprise.
The conversation, therefore, should move beyond ridicule and focus on how government, private sector stakeholders, financial institutions, and community organisations can collaborate to support more women through grants, affordable credit, business training, improved infrastructure, and access to markets.
The First Lady’s message was fundamentally about hope backed by practical action.
Hope alone may not transform lives, but hope supported by opportunity, determination, and hard work often can.
If more vulnerable women are empowered to start small today, many could become successful entrepreneurs tomorrow. That is why the national conversation should move beyond akara itself and focus on the larger goal of building a society where opportunity, resilience, and enterprise can flourish.
After all, some of the greatest transformations begin with the smallest first step.