Remi Tinubu,Akara and the Politics of Possibility

Social media can be a fascinating marketplace of ideas. It can also be a factory for outrage. The recent criticism of First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu over her reference to Akara and Kuli-Kuli as possible entrepreneurial ventures belongs to that second category.

Before joining the chorus of condemnation, it may be worthwhile to remember the story of Alhaja Amoke Odukoya, popularly known as Amoke Oge. She started with a modest local food business, armed with little more than culinary skills inherited from her mother and refined under her elder sister in Bariga, Lagos. Through consistency, innovation, branding and technology, she transformed a traditional meal into one of Nigeria’s best-known indigenous food brands, reportedly generating annual revenues running into billions of naira.

That story teaches an enduring lesson: greatness often begins in ordinary places.

The debate, therefore, should not be whether Akara, Kuli-Kuli or pepper-selling are “small” businesses. The real question is whether Nigerians are willing to see opportunity where others see limitation. Across the world, countless global brands began as cottage industries before growing into enterprises employing thousands of people.

This does not diminish the importance of the digital economy. Far from it.

India, for example, has built one of the world’s largest software workforces, with roughly five million software developers serving global markets. China has an estimated seven million developers, the United States over four million, while Europe collectively has more than six million software professionals. These numbers were not achieved overnight. They are the product of decades of deliberate investments in education, research, infrastructure and consistent government policies. Nigeria must certainly pursue that path with determination.

Indeed, the country is already making encouraging progress. Nigerian fintech companies now rank among Africa’s most innovative, processing billions of dollars in digital transactions every year and attracting substantial international investment. Nigerian software engineers are increasingly employed by leading global technology companies, while many others build solutions that serve customers across continents. These are achievements worth celebrating and expanding.

Yet there is another truth we must not ignore.

Not every young Nigerian will become a software engineer, artificial intelligence specialist or cybersecurity expert. Success in those fields requires not only education but also aptitude, passion and years of disciplined learning. Every economy, no matter how advanced, accommodates diverse talents and professions. Germany remains famous for manufacturing excellence. Italy exports fashion and luxury goods. Japan combines technology with precision manufacturing. India excels in software while simultaneously sustaining millions of small enterprises that feed its domestic economy.

Development is rarely a matter of choosing one path over another. Successful nations build many roads to prosperity.

Technology itself does not eliminate traditional businesses; it transforms them. Food delivery applications have expanded restaurants. Digital payments have modernised neighbourhood shops. Social media has enabled local fashion designers to reach international customers. An Akara seller who embraces digital payments, online marketing, efficient delivery and quality packaging is no longer merely selling bean cakes; such an entrepreneur is operating within the digital economy.

That is precisely where Nigeria’s greatest opportunity lies—combining traditional enterprise with modern technology.

Our national conversation should therefore rise above personalities and politics. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the First Lady’s exact choice of words is secondary. The more important discussion is how government, the private sector and educational institutions can equip young Nigerians with practical skills, access to finance, digital tools and markets. Entrepreneurship and technology are not competitors; they are partners.

Nigeria’s unemployment challenge is too serious for ideological camps. We need software developers and welders, AI engineers and fashion designers, robotics experts and food entrepreneurs. We need coders who build applications and market women who use those applications to grow their businesses.

The future belongs not to those who mock humble beginnings but to those who recognise that every great enterprise—whether Microsoft, Amazon, Dangote, Interswitch or a thriving neighbourhood food brand—once began with one simple idea and someone courageous enough to pursue it.

The tragedy of Nigeria is not that too many people sell Akara. The tragedy is that too many people despise honest enterprise while waiting for perfect opportunities that may never come. Nations are not built by professions; they are built by productive people.

The software engineer writing codes in Yaba, the woman frying Akara in Ogbomoso, the mechanic in Aba, the fashion designer in Kano and the farmer in Benue are not competitors. They are teammates in the same national project.

When we stop arguing over whether success should begin with Akara or algorithms, and instead ensure that both have the opportunity to become global businesses, Nigeria would have taken a giant step towards true economic transformation.

For the future has never belonged to those who mocked small beginnings. It has always belonged to those who transformed them into history.

The tragedy of Nigeria is not that too many people sell Akara. The tragedy is that too many people despise honest enterprise while waiting for perfect opportunities that may never come. Nations are not built by professions; they are built by productive people.

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The software engineer writing codes in Yaba, the woman frying Akara in Ogbomoso, the mechanic in Aba, the fashion designer in Kano and the farmer in Benue are not competitors. They are teammates in the same national project.

Nigerias First Lady comment ignites debate

Our duty as leaders is not to choose one dream over another, but to create an environment where every legitimate dream has a chance to flourish.

History has never asked how small an idea was at birth. It has only asked one question: Did someone have the courage to make it grow?

Perhaps the next billionaire is not waiting for a government appointment. Perhaps she is already frying Akara. Perhaps he is already writing software. Our responsibility is not to ridicule either of them; it is to build a nation where both can become global success stories. After all, every oak tree was once an acorn, and every empire was once somebody’s “small idea.”

As I close this week’s Gauge, permit me to leave you with one thought.

Never laugh at another person’s beginning. The world has a strange habit of rewarding people who refuse to despise small opportunities. Today’s Akara seller may own tomorrow’s food-processing empire. Today’s software developer may build Africa’s next unicorn. One will feed our stomachs; the other will feed our economy. Nigeria needs both.

In the final analysis, prosperity does not ask where you started. It only asks whether you kept moving. And, the future has never belonged to those who mocked small beginnings. It has always belonged to those who transformed them into history.

Never measure an opportunity by its size at birth; measure it by the size of the vision behind it.

Of a truth, l believe the future does not belong to big ideas. It belongs to ordinary ideas pursued extraordinarily well.