馃嚦馃嚞NigeriaWest Africa
First Lady's call for Nigerian women to embrace local trades sparks discussion on economic empowerment
via Punch Nigeria2 min read
First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu's recent encouragement for Nigerian women to engage in businesses like akara, kulikuli, and corn roasting is seen as appropriate, practical, and patriotic. The article highlights how many successful Nigerian eateries and food brands began as small hawking businesses, citing examples like Amala Sky and Mama Ope in Ibadan, which grew from street vendors to multi-branch enterprises. Similarly, women in northern Nigeria transformed small-scale kulikuli frying and corn roasting into packaged food businesses supplying supermarkets. The author notes that Ghanaians once dominated the akara trade in Nigerian cities, demonstrating the potential for local industries when scaled. The piece extends this warning beyond food, pointing out that Nigeria is increasingly importing skilled labor for trades like bricklaying, tiling, plumbing, and furniture making from other West African countries. The First Lady's message is interpreted as a call to start with accessible trades to foster capital formation, discipline, and economic growth within communities, rather than allowing foreign entities to fill these roles. The author, Olaosebikan, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State, emphasizes that these small trades are entry points to larger economic development.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Punch Nigeria.
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