Loading ...ABUJA, NIGERIA — The First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has triggered widespread public backlash after publicly advising struggling citizens to venture into roadside petty trading, such as roasting corn, frying akara (bean cakes), and selling kuli-kuli (peanut cakes), to cope with the country’s harsh economic realities.
The remarks, meant to defend the administration’s grassroots micro-grant initiatives, have instead ignited fierce condemnation. Critics are quickly contrasting her low-budget survival advice with the multi-trillion naira megaprojects being executed by her husband’s administration, most notably the controversial 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The Statement That Sparked the Fire
Speaking on the presidency’s approach to poverty alleviation and small-scale empowerment, the First Lady suggested that citizens do not need massive capital to uplift themselves economically.
“To start akara business doesn’t take a lot of money. To start roasting corn or kuli-kuli doesn’t take much,” Senator Tinubu stated. “We have encouraged Nigerians as best as we could, we have given people a grant, I also gave to several others.”
While the presidency frames these micro-grants as accessible lifelines for the informal sector, the recommendation that citizens rely on roadside food vending has been widely slammed as insensitive, given the severe inflation currently eroding the purchasing power of millions of Nigerians.
The Reality Check: What It Actually Costs to Sell Akara and Corn in 2026
To understand the public outrage, 247ureports conducted a market assessment of basic commodities, revealing that the First Lady’s economic assumptions drastically underestimate the modern cost of hyper-inflation under the current administration.
Due to the skyrocketing costs of fuel, transportation, and imported inputs, setting up even a “basic” roadside food business requires significant capital that far outstrips the micro-grants being distributed by the office of the First Lady.
The Akara Business Cost Profile
For an average Nigerian to start a daily akara roadside stand, the initial capital layout for basic ingredients and equipment is staggering:
- The Staples: A standard 50kg bag of honey or brown beans now hovers between ₦75,000 and ₦90,000, while higher grade variations exceed ₦115,000. A single paint bucket of beans retails for ₦6,000 to ₦7,500.
- The Frying Agent: A 25-litre jerrican of vegetable/groundnut oil ranges from ₦65,000 to ₦95,000, with even a small 5-litre keg costing up to ₦22,000.
- The Energy Crisis: Frying akara requires sustained high heat. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) LPG Price Watch, refilling a standard 12.5kg cooking gas cylinder averages ₦19,652, with states like Kaduna and Nasarawa crossing ₦23,000. Alternatively, a single 50kg bag of hardwood charcoal now costs roughly ₦15,000.
- Total Setup Estimate: When adding the costs of onions, pepper, firewood/gas burners, a large frying pan, and a local market levy, an operator needs at least ₦180,000 to ₦250,000 just to launch a sustainable daily akara stand.
The Roasted Corn / Kuli-Kuli Reality
The assumption that roasting corn requires “next to nothing” similarly fails under market scrutiny:
- A bag of raw maize from major markets has doubled due to high transit logistics tied to petrol hikes.
- A single sack of charcoal (vital for the roasting grid) disappears rapidly in an open-air roadside setup, demanding recurring weekly investments.
- Kuli-kuli production relies heavily on groundnuts, which face severe supply chain spikes linked to security challenges in northern farming regions.
The Contrast: Roadside Survival vs. Elite Megaprojects
The core of the public anger lies in the sharp policy and lifestyle disconnect between Nigeria’s ruling class and the citizens they govern:
- Trillions for Concrete: President Bola Tinubu’s administration continues to prioritize capital-intensive infrastructure, pouring trillions of naira into the coastal highway project and other elite administrative expenses.
- Kobo for the Masses: Meanwhile, citizens hit by the removal of fuel subsidies, electricity tariff hikes, and the floating of the naira are being told to find solace in subsistence-level trading.
Social commentators and citizens have pointed out the stark irony: the administration expects the population to survive on the margins of the economy by selling snacks by the roadside, while the state apparatus commands vast financial resources.
As public discontent grows, the First Lady’s remarks are being cited by critics as a prime example of a perceived lack of empathy and a deepening disconnect between the economic policies discussed in the Aso Rock Villa and the daily survival struggles on the Nigerian street.
