The public reaction to First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s remarks encouraging small-scale businesses such as akara frying, roasted corn, and kuli-kuli production has generated intense debate across social media. While critics dismissed the comments as disconnected from Nigeria’s economic realities, a closer examination suggests that the First Lady’s message was less about romanticizing poverty and more about highlighting the transformative power of grassroots enterprise.
Across Nigeria, countless families have built dignified lives through small informal businesses. These are not abstract theories; they are real stories of resilience and determination.
A very close friend of mine, Doctor Abdullahi, grew up knowing two remarkable women whose lives perfectly illustrate this reality.
One was a Hausa single mother who made her living frying local snacks. Through years of hard work and discipline, she financed her son’s education from primary school to adulthood. Today, that son serves Nigeria as a Colonel in the Nigerian Army. What began as a modest roadside business became the foundation of an extraordinary success story.
The second was an Igbo woman affectionately known as Mama Amaka. After losing her husband in a tragic road accident, she was left alone to raise four children. Rather than surrender to despair, she turned to frying akara and yam for a living.
Every morning, customers gathered in large numbers at her roadside stand. From the proceeds of that humble business, she educated all four of her children to university level. Today, three of them live and work abroad, while the fourth has also built a successful career. Every school fee, every textbook, and every sacrifice was funded by the income from frying akara.
These stories are reminders that small businesses have long served as powerful vehicles for economic mobility in Nigeria.
More importantly, the impact extends far beyond the individual entrepreneur.
When a woman buys beans to fry akara, she creates demand for local farmers. When she purchases yam, maize, or groundnuts for roasted corn or kuli-kuli, she supports agricultural production. Transporters earn income moving those goods from farms to markets. Suppliers, traders, retailers, and consumers all become part of the same economic ecosystem.
This is the multiplier effect of the informal economy.
The business owner earns an income to feed and educate her family. Her children are less vulnerable to hunger and Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM), one of the most serious forms of malnutrition affecting low-income households. Farmers receive steady patronage, encouraging them to cultivate more. Transporters and market traders also benefit, creating a continuous chain of economic activity that supports thousands of livelihoods.
This appears to be the broader point behind the First Lady’s remarks.
Unfortunately, much of the online criticism focused only on the surface of the message. Many interpreted the examples of akara, roasted corn, and kuli-kuli as limiting Nigerians’ aspirations. Yet the emphasis was not on the products themselves but on entrepreneurship, productivity, self-reliance, and creating value within communities.
Nigeria’s largest workforce operates in the informal sector. Millions of market women, artisans, traders, food vendors, and small-scale producers sustain households every day. Strengthening this sector has the potential to reduce unemployment, improve food security, and stimulate local economic growth.
Economic empowerment at the grassroots also has wider social benefits. When families have stable incomes, children are more likely to remain in school, crime is reduced, and fewer young people are driven toward desperate means of survival. Honest work restores dignity and strengthens communities.
The First Lady’s message should, therefore, be viewed as a call to recognize the value of productive enterprise, regardless of its size. Every successful business begins somewhere. What starts as a roadside food stand today may become tomorrow’s thriving enterprise, just as it did for the families whose lives were transformed through determination and hard work.
The conversation should not be about whether akara, roasted corn, or kuli-kuli are glamorous occupations. It should be about whether Nigeria creates an environment where hardworking citizens—especially women and young entrepreneurs—can use honest labour to improve their lives and contribute to national development.
Behind every small business is a larger economic chain. And when that chain is strengthened, entire communities benefit.