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The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has defended her earlier comments on small-scale businesses, saying the Federal Government’s empowerment programmes extend beyond akara sellers to include traders in tomatoes, pepper, vegetables and roasted plantain.
Tinubu spoke on Monday during the inauguration of the newly constructed Abubakar Maje Haruna Hall at the Emir of Hadejia’s Palace in Jigawa State, according to a video aired by TVC News.
Her remarks come days after comments she made about akara, roasted corn and kuli-kuli businesses sparked widespread backlash on social media, with many Nigerians accusing her of trivialising the country’s economic hardship.
Addressing the criticism directly, the First Lady said the Federal Government had donated N100m to the Jigawa State Government to empower 2,000 petty traders in the state.
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“Because of the atmosphere, what is going on, I’ve told Her Excellency that we’ve already given, donated about 100 million to her to use to empower 2,000 petty traders.
“And I know they’ve been talking that I said akara. It’s not only akara, we also have tomato sellers. We have boole, and those also selling pepper, selling vegetables for us in the market.
“We will continue to empower them and add to their resources so that their trade can really be sustainable. So that is what we are doing,” she said.
Tinubu said the beneficiaries would each receive N50,000 to recapitalise their businesses.
“We continue to carry the capacity. We have the amount of 2,000 women who are already in small businesses. They will recapitalise their businesses with the N50,000 each. We’ve already given the N100 million,” she added.
She maintained that the criticism trailing her earlier remarks would not deter the government from its empowerment programmes.
“I know all those people who are affected, they do appreciate it. And we are not intimidated by all those wrong reports. But we are forging ahead and making sure that our people, you know, are well cared for,” Mrs Tinubu said.
The First Lady also spoke about Nigeria’s untapped resources, citing an orange orchard she visited in Benue State, and expressed hope that young Nigerians would explore opportunities beyond oil.
“Nigeria is a really blessed country. I’ve been travelling, and I pray that our young people will see the resources we have in this nation. We have not even gone to explore yet because we are thinking it’s oil. But there are so many things,” she said.
