The Executive Director, #FixPolitics Africa, Anthony Ubani, has described Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s recent advice to struggling Nigerians to start frying akara, roasting corn and selling kuli-kuli as the height of insult to Nigerians, who are expecting “renewed hope” from her husband, President Bola Tinubu.

In a statement yesterday, Ubani noted that there were moments when a government would speak and, without knowing it, reveal the full poverty of its imagination.

“Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s recent advice to struggling Nigerians to start frying akara, roasting corn and selling kuli-kuli is one of those moments,” he added.

While noting that “there is nothing shameful about frying akara,” the leadership and governance expert said the problem lies in the ruling class considering it a poverty-alleviation strategy in 2026.

“There is dignity in honest labour. The woman who wakes up at 4.00 am to grind beans, light firewood and serve workers breakfast has more honour than many politicians living off public money. The young man roasting corn by the roadside is not the problem. The kuli-kuli seller is not the problem. The problem is a ruling class that sees this as a poverty-alleviation strategy in 2026.

“At a time when serious countries are preparing their young people for artificial intelligence, robotics, coding, renewable energy, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, digital trade, data science, agritech and global service exports, Nigeria’s First Lady is selling the poor the gospel of hot oil, roadside smoke and survival hustle. That is not empowerment. That is not vision. That is not development. It is the casual insult of a comfortable elite speaking down to a broken people. It is top-tier cluelessness.”

According to him, Nigeria is not suffering because Nigerians do not know how to hustle, as they are already hustling themselves to death.
“The tragedy is not that Nigerians lack enterprise. The tragedy is that their country has refused to build an economy worthy of their energy.

“So, when the wife of the President says it does not take much money to start an akara, roasted corn or kuli-kuli business, she is not offering hope; she is revealing how low the government’s ambition for citizens has fallen,” Ubani submitted.

Explaining why the statement hurts, the #FixPolitics Africa boss said Nigerians do not despise small businesses, since the majority of citizens survive on them.

“The issue is that government cannot reduce the future of its citizens to petty trading while the same political class enjoys the full benefits of modern luxury, public privilege and state protection. The contrast is obscene.”

Highlighting the enterprising nature of Nigerian youths, most of whom dream of becoming the Emeagwalis, Gates and Zuckerbergs of this world, he said encouraging ordinary Nigerian women to start akara businesses does not bode well in “a country where the First Lady can donate vehicles to APC women leaders and tell them to register those vehicles in their own names.”

He added, “For party women leaders, cars. For poor women, akara. For the political class, convoys. For citizens, corn smoke. For those close to power, personal vehicles. For the masses, kuli-kuli grants. This is not governance. This is class arrogance dressed up as charity.

“Nigeria’s poverty is not a mystery. The National Bureau of Statistics has told us that 133m Nigerians are multidimensionally poor. That means poverty is not just about lack of cash. It is about lack of education, lack of healthcare, lack of clean energy, lack of decent housing, lack of security, lack of sanitation, lack of opportunity and lack of human dignity. You do not solve this kind of poverty by telling people to fry bean cakes. You solve it with serious policy, serious investment, serious leadership and serious respect for citizens.”
Ubani advised the ruling class to stop confusing token grants with economic transformation.
“Giving a poor woman a small grant without fixing inflation, power, roads, security, markets, taxation and access to finance is like giving someone an umbrella in a hurricane and calling it shelter. It may help a few people for a short time, but it is not a plan. It is a photo opportunity.
“Worse still, it keeps poor people small. It tells them to be grateful for crumbs while the powerful feast. It trains citizens to lower their expectations. It asks the poor to celebrate survival while politicians enjoy luxury. It turns poverty into a permanent address and calls it hope.”
For him, Nigeria does not need a government that romanticises suffering.
“We have done enough suffering. Nigerians do not need lectures on resilience. They have been resilient for too long. What they need is a government that is competent enough to make resilience unnecessary.
“The First Lady may have intended to encourage enterprise. But intention is not enough. Leadership is not judged only by what she meant to say. It is judged by what suffering citizens heard. And what many Nigerians heard was simple: the powerful deserve comfort; the poor should manage akara. That is why the outrage is justified.”
Ubani added that until Nigeria is positioned to enable its citizens compete globally, the Renewed Hope Agenda will continue to sound like Renewed Insult.