A Nigerian youth has defended recent remarks made by Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, regarding her call for women to engage in petty businesses, insisting that her comments were misunderstood and taken out of context.
Speaking in support of the First Lady, the youth said there is dignity in honest labour, arguing that it is better to be identified with legitimate small-scale businesses than criminal activities or prostitution.
“Is it not better to be noble than to be doing filthy things? It’s better they know you as an akara seller than to be known as an armed robber. It’s better they know you as a kuli kuli seller than to be known as a prostitute. It’s better they know you as a boli seller than to be tagged as a hookup girl, hookup woman or sugar mummy. We want our mothers to be noble and start something small,” he said.
The speaker also highlighted several humanitarian interventions by the First Lady, noting that critics had ignored her broader contributions to women and healthcare support initiatives.
According to him, aside from the ₦100,000 grants distributed to women, Senator Tinubu had donated ₦2 billion towards tuberculosis intervention, ₦1 billion to combat malnutrition and ₦1.5 billion to address the growing burden of cancer in the country.
He further stated that when the First Lady presented ₦100 million grants to states for women empowerment, she encouraged the wives of state governors to contribute additional funds so that more women could benefit from the initiative.
The youth maintained that the First Lady never instructed beneficiaries to use the grants specifically for selling akara or kuli kuli.
According to him, the references to akara, kuli kuli and boli were merely examples of small-scale businesses women could venture into, while beneficiaries remained free to choose any legitimate enterprise of their choice.
