When Nigeria’s First Lady, Remi Tinubu, suggested that selling akara, roasting corn, and making kuli-kuli are businesses that don’t require much capital, Nigerians reacted exactly as Nigerians always do: with memes, hot takes, and enough sarcasm to power the national grid for at least 15 minutes.
Apparently, every Nigerian is just about three buckets of groundnut and beans away from financial freedom.
But beneath the outrage lies an important question: why do leaders keep returning to this idea?
- Their Thoughts Are Almost Always In Tune With Certain Nigerians
One thing Nigerian politicians understand is that no idea is too outrageous to find defenders. For every hundred Nigerians screaming into the void about being told to fry beans in 2026, there are a few who will nod along and say, “She has a point, sha.”
So naturally, suggesting that millions of people start selling akara isn’t a risky proposition. There will always be someone who genuinely believes that the only thing standing between poverty and prosperity is a bigger frying pan.
What can we not defend as a people?
- The Business Has Been Saving Lives Since ‘70
Selling akara has paid school fees. Selling kulikuli has built houses, and even selling corn has sponsored university degrees.
Every Nigerian community has at least one legendary woman whose beans business carried an entire family into the middle class.
Remi believes beneficiaries of these businesses will surely come out to testify.
- The Business is Lucrative Enough For An Average Nigerian
“If others could do it, why not?” This is the logic. The success stories exist, they are real, and our leaders are absolutely counting on them.
- Entrepreneurs Do Not Need a Pitch Deck, and It’s Pretty Easy To Start
Before tech bros discovered disruption, Nigerian mothers were already operating lean businesses with positive cash flow and zero venture capital.
No investor decks. No seed rounds. No LinkedIn posts announcing that they were “excited to share this journey.” Just hot oil, determination, and people who were ready to buy.
Perhaps Remi Tinubu simply wants Nigerians to reconnect with indigenous innovation.
Forget artificial intelligence; return to ancestral intelligence.
- Resilience Is Nigeria’s Favourite Natural Resource (And They Know it)
Oil prices fluctuate. Currency weakens. Infrastructure collapses. Yet somehow, Nigerians keep finding ways to survive. Our resilience has become both our greatest strength and our permanent job description.
Perhaps leaders genuinely believe that if Nigerians survived previous hardships, they can survive this one too, preferably while roasting corn by the roadside.
Hot Take
Every quarter, a government initiative hands out small grants for smaller dreams, and someone somewhere holds a press conference about it like it is a miracle. And every time a leader says something that is disconnected from reality, we trend it for three days and move on.
The funniest part of this entire conversation is that nobody is insulting akara sellers. Nigerians really respect the hustle culture however, those people did those jobs hoping their children wouldn’t have to…and that is the part we keep missing.
The dream was never to create a country where every graduate owns a frying pan, the dream was to create one where frying akara is a choice, not an economic development strategy.
And if your policy vision can be summarised with breakfast items, Nigerians are allowed to ask for a bigger menu.
