President Bola Tinubu on Thursday jokingly referred to the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, as “Iya Alakara” during a public event, in what appeared to be a light-hearted reference to the recent controversy surrounding her comments on small-scale businesses.
The President made the remark while acknowledging dignitaries at the Presidential Press Corps Dinner held at the State House, Abuja.
A video of the event shared by Aso Rock TV showed Tinubu smiling as he greeted guests before introducing his wife with the nickname.
“Good evening, gentlemen of the press, ladies and gentlemen, my dear wife, the First Lady, Iya Alakara,” the President said, drawing laughter from members of the audience.
The comment comes weeks after the First Lady advised Nigerian women to embrace small-scale businesses such as selling akara (bean cakes), roasted corn and kuli-kuli under the Renewed Hope Initiative’s economic empowerment programme.
She had noted that such ventures “don’t take much money” to start.
The statement sparked widespread reactions on social media, with some Nigerians criticising the remarks as insensitive to the country’s economic challenges and accusing her of trivialising the hardship faced by many citizens.
However, the First Lady later clarified that the Federal Government’s empowerment programme was not limited to akara sellers but also covered traders dealing in tomatoes, pepper, vegetables, roasted plantain and other petty businesses.
She spoke on Monday during the inauguration of the newly constructed Abubakar Maje Haruna Hall at the Emir of Hadejia’s Palace in Jigawa State.
Addressing the criticism directly, the First Lady said the Federal Government had donated N100m to the Jigawa State Government to empower 2,000 petty traders in the state.
“Because of the atmosphere, what is going on, I’ve told Her Excellency that we’ve already given, donated about 100 million to her to use to empower 2,000 petty traders.
“And I know they’ve been talking that I said akara. It’s not only akara, we also have tomato sellers. We have boole, and those also selling pepper, selling vegetables for us in the market.
“We will continue to empower them and add to their resources so that their trade can really be sustainable. So that is what we are doing,” she said.
