Nigeria's First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has encouraged women across the country to embrace small-scale businesses, saying ventures such as selling akara, roasted corn, and kuli kuli require little capital to get started.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Tinubu said her office has been supporting women through grants, stressing that beneficiaries receive financial assistance without any repayment obligation.
"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 kuli kuli doesn't take much. We didn't give them a loan; we gave it to them as a grant," she said.
The First Lady explained that the grants are part of efforts under the Renewed Hope Agenda to empower women, improve livelihoods, and complement the Federal Government's economic empowerment programmes.
Tinubu also highlighted several interventions by her office in the health sector, revealing that billions of naira have been committed to addressing major public health challenges.
"I remember giving for TB. When I heard there were so many TB cases, I gave N2 billion. To breast cancer, I gave a billion. For food malnutrition, I gave half a billion," she stated.
She added that the interventions are aimed at supporting government efforts and ensuring that key programmes positively impact Nigerians.
"Those are the things we've been doing and making sure that whatever this government is trying to do, it will see the light of day," she said.
The First Lady also expressed concern over what she described as growing negative narratives affecting Nigerians, saying the Renewed Hope Agenda was designed to restore optimism among citizens.
"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 says this is the Renewed Hope Agenda. We have to renew our hope," Tinubu added.
