TDA video featuring Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, has sparked widespread reactions online after she emphasized that starting small-scale businesses such as selling akara (bean cakes), roasted corn, or kuli-kuli (groundnut chips) requires little capital.
In the video footage, Tinubu stated:
“To start Akara business doesn’t take a lot of money.
“To start roasting corn and kuli-kuli doesn’t take much.
“We didn’t give them a loan, we gave them a grant.
“We have encouraged Nigerians as best as we could.”
She explained that government-backed grants were intended to provide hope and opportunities for citizens.
She highlighted her contributions to health and social causes, including funding for tuberculosis, breast cancer, malnutrition, agriculture, education, and ICT training.
The video, posted on June 25, 2026, quickly went viral, with over 1.2 million views and thousands of comments.
However, much of the online engagement reflected public frustration.
Many Nigerians criticized the remarks as evidence of governmental disconnect from the realities of unemployment, inflation, and rising living costs.
Social media replies largely questioned the emphasis on informal street vending as a solution to economic hardship.
Users contrasted the First Lady’s advice against the challenges of sustaining livelihoods in today’s economy.
Despite the backlash, Tinubu framed her comments within the administration’s “Renewed Hope Agenda”.
Urging citizens not to give up, Tinubu said:
“We’re a very proud nation… We have to renew our hope.
“And that’s what I have to tell Nigerians. They don’t give up.”
Watch the video clip here:
Or read the full transcript of the video clip below:
“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 about grants, you see they’re saying that Kulinkuli doesn’t take much.
We didn’t give them a loan, we gave it to them as a grant. So we’ve encouraged Nigerians as best as we could.
What is within our hands, I have given and I keep giving.You know, and those are the things we’ve done.
I remember giving for TB when I heard there’s so much TB cases. I gave two billion to breast cancer.
I gave a billion to food malnutrition. I gave half a billion.
So those are the things we’ve been doing and making sure we can make sure that whatever this government is trying to do, that it will see the light of the day.
So in Agrik, we’ve done in… social investment we have in education, we’ve given a little bit of scholarship, ICT training, and with NIDA.
And all those are things, and we are still open, still want to do more.
The narrative has really changed, has changed to challenge the average man, whereas the average man is supposed to have hope.
So I like the idea that Mr. President said, this is the renewed hope agenda.
We have to renew our hope.And that’s how we renew our hope. And that’s what I have to tell Nigerians.
They don’t give up. We’re a very proud nation.”
