Wife of the President, Senator Remi Tinubu, has urged economically disadvantaged Nigerians to consider small businesses such as selling akara, roasted corn and kulikuli as viable sources of income, saying they require little capital to start and can help families cope with the country’s economic challenges.

She gave the advice after hosting the wives of the 36 state governors in Abuja, where she highlighted empowerment programmes and financial support provided through her office to assist vulnerable Nigerians.

According to the First Lady, her interventions are centred on providing grants rather than loans to enable beneficiaries to establish small-scale businesses without the burden of repayment.

“We’re trying to give hope, and to start an akara business doesn’t take a lot of money. To start roasting corn… somebody even said about grants, you see, they’re saying that kulikuli doesn’t take much. We didn’t give them a loan; we gave it to them as a grant,” she said.

Senator Tinubu said her office has continued to support Nigerians through various empowerment initiatives designed to improve livelihoods and promote self-reliance.

“So we’ve encouraged Nigerians as best as we could. What is within our hands, I have given, and I keep giving, and those are the things we’ve done,” she added.

The First Lady also outlined some of the financial interventions she has personally supported, including ₦2 billion for tuberculosis treatment, N1 billion for breast cancer interventions and N500 million to address food malnutrition.

“I remember giving for TB when I heard there’s so much TB cases, I gave two billion (naira). To breast cancer, I gave a billion (naira). To food malnutrition, I gave half a billion (naira),” she said.

She added that her office has also supported programmes in agriculture, education, social investment and digital skills development, including scholarships and ICT training in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

According to her, the interventions are intended to complement the Federal Government’s efforts to improve the welfare of citizens and create more economic opportunities.

Senator Tinubu also appealed to Nigerians not to lose hope despite the country’s economic difficulties, arguing that negative narratives have worsened public anxiety.

“The narrative has really changed. The average man is supposed to have hope. So I like the idea that Mr. President said this is the Renewed Hope Agenda.

“We have to renew our hope. They don’t give up. We’re a very proud nation,” she said.

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, has described as ‘out of context’ the assertion that President Bola Tinubu told Nigerians he would not seek re-election if he failed to provide constant power supply for the citizens.

Onanuga dismissed the claims which have recently resurfaced in many circles, and explained that the statement credited to the president was conditional, and not an outright pledge.

Onanuga spoke during an interview on Arise News on Tuesday, where he further insisted that the President’s remarks on power sector reforms had been misrepresented, as it was not an outright pledge to forgo a second term.

Reports had quoted Tinubu during a business luncheon in December 2022 ahead of the 2023 presidential election, to have said: “If I don’t give you constant electricity for four years, when I come back for a second term, don’t vote for me.”

But the presidential aide argued that critics often quote only a portion of the President’s remarks while ignoring the context in which they were made.

Asked whether the President had promised not to seek re-election if the electricity supply did not improve dramatically, Onanuga said: “That is not exactly what he said. He said he will give Nigerians power. I’m paraphrasing now. He said he will also will end the area of estimated billing. A problem that he has largely solved because it should not be his business, but his government is producing meters, asking the DISCOS to give people meters free of charge.

“And he said, if by any chance he has reasons not to give Nigerians adequate power, then they should understand the problem that he inherited.”

When he was told that the President said he should not be reelected if the electricity supply did not improve, Onanuga said, “He didn’t say that way. Let me see if I can open my phone and tell exactly what he said.”

Onanuga argued that Tinubu had demonstrated commitment to power sector reforms since assuming office, citing the signing of the Electricity Act as one of the administration’s major achievements.

“The first thing he did when he came to office was sign the Electricity Act, which enables states to generate power, transmit power and distribute power,” he said.

The presidential spokesman noted that the legislation has opened up the electricity sector and encouraged competition, with several states already taking advantage of the opportunities created by the law.

“That is a good thing. Some of the states are taking advantage of that, and more are going to do so. That will make the electricity sector open and competitive,” he added.

The presidential spokesman also pointed to efforts by the administration to address the metering gap across the country, saying the government had intervened to ensure more Nigerians receive meters free of charge.

“He also learnt the error of estimated billing, a problem that his government is largely solving because the government is producing meters and asking distribution companies to give people free of charge,” Onanuga said.

While acknowledging that electricity supply has yet to reach the level envisioned by the President, Onanuga attributed the challenge to long-standing structural problems in the sector.

“We are not at the level that the President meant it. I can tell you that,” he said.

He explained that although Nigeria has an installed generation capacity of about 13,500 megawatts, constraints such as gas shortages, legacy debts and weak transmission infrastructure have limited performance.

“What people don’t know is that we already have an installed capacity of 13,500 megawatts. What are the problems? No gas. The players in the sector owe the gas companies legacy debts of over four trillion naira,” he said.

According to Onanuga, the Tinubu administration is working to resolve these issues while pursuing reforms aimed at improving generation and transmission capacity.

“The transmission grid is outdated, but that is part of the reforms that need to be put in place,” he said.

He added that the government was exploring additional initiatives to optimise existing power assets and improve electricity delivery across the country.

Onanuga maintained that despite the challenges, the administration remains committed to delivering on its promise of improving electricity supply and strengthening the nation’s power sector.

Former Rivers State Governor and ex-Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that he, and not President Bola Tinubu, played the pivotal role in making late Muhammadu Buhari president in 2015.

In a Friday interview on Arise News’ Prime Time, Amaechi, who is now a presidential aspirant under the African Democratic Congress, addressed longstanding claims by Tinubu.

During his pre-2023 campaigning, Tinubu said Buhari would not have become president without him and that it was his turn to become one too.

But Amaechi explained that as a serving minister under Buhari, he could not publicly challenge Tinubu’s assertions to avoid risking his position.

“When we decided to form the APC, while I was a minister, (Tinubu) was claiming he made Buhari president and I couldn’t respond because I was a minister under President Buhari. That would have been suicidal because Buhari could fire you,” Amaechi said.

He continued, “So I couldn’t have said, ‘You are wrong.’ He didn’t make President Buhari president. Not only was I the DG of the campaign, but everybody will bear witness that I did all the battle.

“I led the Governors’ Forum, criss-crossed the country fighting here and there trying to get Nigerians to know that this is the time for change.”

Amaechi served as Director-General of Buhari’s 2015 and 2019 presidential campaigns.

He was a key figure in the 2013–2014 defection of PDP governors that helped form the APC alliance, which ultimately defeated President Goodluck Jonathan.

However, Tinubu was also instrumental in Buhari’s emergence, leading the merger of major opposition parties, including his Action Congress of Nigeria, to form the All Progressives Congress, which challenged and defeated the then-ruling PDP.

The remarks come amid Amaechi’s positioning for the 2027 presidential race as part of the growing opposition coalition under the ADC.

He has been vocal in recent months criticising the Tinubu administration over economic hardship.