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Remi Tinubu, Nigeria’s first lady, says small-scale food businesses such as selling akara and roasted corn require little capital.
Akara is a Nigerian snack made from deep-frying ground beans.
Tinubu said her office has been providing grants — not loans — to support such businesses as part of efforts to improve livelihoods under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“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 a loan; we gave it to them as a grant,” she said.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the first lady said the grants are aimed at empowering beneficiaries while complementing the programmes of the federal government.
She also highlighted interventions by her office in the health sector, including N2 billion for tuberculosis, N1 billion for breast cancer, and N500 million to tackle food malnutrition.
“I remember giving for TB. When I heard there were so many TB cases, I gave N2 billion. To breast cancer, I gave a billion. For food malnutrition, I gave half a billion,” she said.
“So those are the things we’ve been doing and making sure we can make sure that whatever this government is trying to do, it will see the light of day.”
Tinubu expressed concern over what she described as negative narratives affecting Nigerians and said the Renewed Hope Agenda is intended to restore optimism.
“The narrative has really changed, has changed to challenge the average man, whereas the average man is supposed to have hope. So I like the idea that Mr President says this is the Renewed Hope Agenda. We have to renew our hope,” she added.
