A video of First Lady Oluremi Tinubu encouraging Nigerians to start small ventures like akara and kuli-kuli drew fresh reactions online, after a woman responded with a cost breakdown showing N90,545 is needed, not the N50,000 grant mentioned by the First Lady.
Tinubu had on Wednesday at the State House in Abuja during the second-quarter meeting of the Renewed Hope Initiative with wives of state governors, said the programme provides grants, not loans, to vulnerable Nigerians.
“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.
“So we’ve encouraged Nigerians as best as we could. What is within our hands, I have given, and I keep giving,” she added.
However, in response to the First Lady’s grant claim, a woman in a video posted by X user @CrownpriceCom2 on Saturday said she had to “do her research” after watching the First Lady, and noticed that something was wrong with the N50,000 grant.
“First Lady, Mother of the Nation, I beg, come close. You say you give them 50,000 Naira to start a small-scale business like Akara. Okay, I tried to understand how you get to 50,000 Naira, that it can start an Akara business, but I did my research,” she said.
The woman then itemised her estimates: “To buy one pint of beans is 10,000 Naira. Local frying pan, 30,000 Naira. Frying spoon, 7,000 Naira. Firewood and the fire stove, 30,000 Naira. Four litres of granola oil, 3,545 Naira. Salt, onion, pepper and seasoning, I just put in 5,000 Naira. Plus 5,000 Naira for transportation and other miscellaneous stuff.”
The woman challenged the First Lady’s claim that N50,000 is enough to start a small-scale akara business, saying the government “owes” aspiring vendors a balance.
“The total price, Mother of the Nation, is N90,545. So you owe those people a balance of N40,545. So it’s N90,000, not N50,000. N50,000 cannot start the Akara. They need to go borrow additional N40,000,” said.
She added, “If you want to help them, you for give them 100,000. I think 100,000 could have gone a little bit to start the Akara business. But not 50,000.”
The woman’s video drew hundreds of comments from Nigerians who shared other hidden costs she had missed.
For @nodianakel65, he wrote, “Pls no forget the space of which you will be frying dat akara, dat space is rented bcos if you fry am aside your hux na only you go chop am, dat space need coverage too, is more than 90k.”
Also, @Catherine_CSSX added, “She didn’t include water, cost of grinding,” while @Wellywhyte listed, “Stainless tray, used newspaper, pap or bread, small wooden work for coverage, small stool for sitting.”
Others cautioned against reducing the conversation to startup costs alone. @Maxims9j said, “N90,545 to start an akara business? The startup cost is just one part of the story. Consistency, a good location, quality, and smart money management are what truly determine whether the business succeeds. No business is ‘small’ when it feeds families and creates income. Respect every honest hustle.”
