Over the weekend, the carefully-chosen words of President Oluremi Tinubu’s first lady, about small-scale entrepreneurship took a personal turn after the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Mr. Sunday Dare made a statement, claiming that his late mother’s hustle amala business paid his education, saying that modest enterprises have been key to the social mobility of millions of Nigerian families in the past.
Dare was responding to the criticism following the First Lady’s recent call-To-Action urging Nigerians, especially women and youths to consider engaging in small businesses like akara and kuli-kuli production as a means of livelihood.
Her statements, made in an empowerment programme, led to vitriol in social media, culminating in some commentators saying that such advice did not tackle the escalating unemployment, inflation and cost-of-living crisis in the country.
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He was born into the poverty of a family running a business in akara, and recalls how his mother’s business helped to put the family by his school fees and gave him a career in journalism, public service and politics.
He emphasized that the potential of the small scale men and women of business they emphasized a need to avoid adverse remarks on entrepreneurship in that form upwardly because it is how many amongst the successful Nigerians have started from.
The presidential aide says the First Lady’s message was not about the importance of trading on the street, but about increasing the spirit of self-reliance, enterprise and dignity in labour in a country experiencing economic hardship with many households looking for income generation alternatives.
He pointed out that micro businesses have a significant role in the informal sector of the economy, where millions of Nigeria’s citizens are employed and live off-to derive their livelihoods and generate significant additional income.
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The headlines came from comments made by Senator Oluremi Tinubu during a senatorial empowerment initiative when she urged beneficiaries not to try just for “white collar” jobs, but to take advantage of the assistance they had being given to create an income-generating project.
The remarks sparked a rapid debate both within the public and the media sphere, with some praising them as a realistic message on the subject of entrepreneurship, while others raised doubts regarding a message that purported to address the realities of today’s economy of high inflation and growing youth unemployment and a shrinking purchasing power.
Nigerians should not focus on the examples that Dare used, but the content of the First Lady’s message, Dare said. History shows that entrepreneurship has served as an important means for helping families cope with economic duress and that a lot of the business people these days are linked with their entrepreneurial work, which was started by performing small entrepreneurial tasks,” he added.
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It is in response to the growing public interest and attention the government policy makers have been receiving in the matter of economic hardship, considering that this Tinubu government is implementing economic reforms that will stabilize the economy, attract investment and enlarge its social intervention programmes.
As employment is projected one of the key political and economic topics before the 2027 general election, debates on livelhoods and empowerment are probably going to be a matter of public scrutiny.
