President Bola Tinubu on Thursday jokingly referred to the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, as “Iya Alakara” during the Presidential Press Corps Dinner held at the State House in Abuja.
The light-hearted remark came while the President was acknowledging dignitaries at the event.
“Good evening, gentlemen of the press, ladies and gentlemen, my dear wife, the First Lady, Iya Alakara,” Tinubu said, prompting laughter from guests.
The nickname follows recent public reactions to comments made by the First Lady, who encouraged Nigerian women to embrace small-scale businesses such as selling akara, roasted corn and kuli-kuli under the Renewed Hope Initiative’s empowerment programme. She had noted that such ventures require little capital to establish.
Her remarks sparked mixed reactions on social media, with some Nigerians describing them as insensitive to the country’s current economic realities and arguing that they downplayed the financial struggles faced by many citizens.
However, the First Lady later clarified that the government’s empowerment programme extends beyond akara sellers to include traders dealing in tomatoes, pepper, vegetables, roasted plantain and other petty businesses.
Speaking on Monday during the inauguration of the newly constructed Abubakar Maje Haruna Hall at the Emir of Hadejia’s Palace in Jigawa State, Oluremi Tinubu disclosed that the Federal Government had donated N100 million to the Jigawa State Government to support 2,000 petty traders.
“We’ve already given about N100 million to empower 2,000 petty traders. And I know they’ve been saying I mentioned akara. It’s not only akara; we also have tomato sellers, boole sellers, pepper sellers and vegetable sellers in the market,” she said.
She added that the initiative aims to strengthen small businesses by providing traders with additional resources to make their businesses more sustainable.
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