A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kehinde Olaosebikan, has defended Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, advising citizens to engage in small businesses such as selling akara, kuli-kuli, and roasted corn.
Olaosebikan described the First Lady’s advice as “appropriate, practical, and deeply patriotic”.
He urged Nigerians not to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.
“We mock what is small until we see what it becomes.
“Today, many of Nigeria’s biggest eateries and food brands began as hawkers. Some sold akara on street corners. Others hawked bread, amala, or even ‘eba kolobe’,” Olaosebikan said.
Citing examples from Ibadan, the party chieftain pointed to Amala Sky, now a major amala outlet in upscale Bodija, which started as a simple hawker inside Bodija Market.
Similarly, he said Mama Ope, another prominent eatery owner, began by selling cooked rice in Mokola Market before expanding to multiple branches, including in Abuja.
He noted that the story is similar in northern Nigeria, where women who started frying small batches of kulikuli by the roadside have grown their businesses into packaged-food businesses supplying supermarkets nationwide.
The APC leader warned that dismissing such trades carries national consequences.
He recalled how Ghanaians had quietly dominated the akara business in cities like Lagos and Ibadan, organising and scaling the trade while many local operators were pushed out.
“Akara, kulikuli, and corn are not the end goal. They are the entry point.
“They teach capital formation, discipline, and scale. They keep money circulating among our women, our families, and our communities instead of leaking abroad,” he said.
He extended the concern beyond food businesses, noting that Nigerians are increasingly losing ground in building and allied trades, with bricklayers, tilers, plumbers, and furniture makers from neighbouring countries now prominent on construction sites.
“The First Lady is not saying stay small. She is saying, ‘Start where you are able.’ Own the ground floor before foreigners buy the whole building,” he added.
Olaosebikan concluded that embracing these small trades could help rebuild local economies, warning that ignoring them would lead to continued reliance on imported labour for jobs Nigerians can do.