First Lady Senator Remi Tinubu has sparked widespread public anger after suggesting that starting small businesses such as akara, roasted corn, and kuli-kuli requires minimal capital comments many Nigerians have condemned as tone-deaf and dismissive of the country’s deepening economic crisis.
In a video circulating widely on social media, Tinubu spoke about the administration’s support for petty traders through grants rather than loans.
“To start akara business doesn’t take a lot of money. To start roasting corn or kuli-kuli doesn’t take much. We didn’t give them a loan, we gave them a grant. We have encouraged Nigerians as best as we could. I also gave to several others,” she said.
The remarks triggered an immediate backlash online, with many Nigerians arguing that the First Lady’s comments failed to address the scale of hardship ordinary citizens face under the current administration.
One user, @PoliticalPhoenix, wrote that offering small grants for street food businesses while government policies had destroyed millions of livelihoods and driven up fuel prices amounted to little more than “crumbs from the table they shattered.”
@whokantakulaya questioned why the government was directing citizens toward akara and corn roasting when no comparable administration abroad encourages its people into such subsistence-level trade, while another user, @Un2say1, pointed out the irony of advising Nigerians to start petty businesses that government enforcement agents routinely harass and shut down.
@Susan called the remarks an insult to Nigerians, while @DedeHydra urged citizens across ethnic and religious lines to vote the administration out of office. @YanaOffycial suggested the First Lady had been fully influenced by her husband’s disposition, warning that a second term would worsen the country’s suffering.
Not all reactions were critical. @Solomon_Sire defended the government, arguing that billions had been disbursed in grants and that Nigerians had failed to make productive use of the support, adding that the administration deserved votes for a second term.
The controversy comes amid sustained public frustration over inflation, rising fuel costs, and deteriorating living standards since the removal of the fuel subsidy under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
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