By Wale Ojo-Lanre, Esq.
Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, should please forgive them.
She should forgive those who deliberately removed her statement from its proper context, twisted her words and circulated misleading interpretations merely to harvest applause on social media.
The First Lady did not declare that ₦50,000 would transform every Nigerian into a wealthy entrepreneur. Neither did she suggest that the grant was sufficient to establish a factory, open a supermarket or build a multinational company.
Her message was simple: a determined person can begin or strengthen a modest trade with a relatively small amount of capital rather than surrender completely to hopelessness.
In the widely circulated remarks, she cited businesses such as selling akara, roasted corn and kuli-kuli as examples of enterprises that could be started on a small scale. The emphasis was on starting somewhere, however modestly, and not on presenting petty trading as the ultimate ambition of Nigerians.
More importantly, the ₦50,000 being distributed under the Renewed Hope Initiative is a grant to support petty traders in strengthening and expanding their businesses.
That is the statement some people have mischievously reduced to: “Remi Tinubu says Nigerians should survive on ₦50,000.”
That is unfair.
₦50,000 IS NOT SMALL TO EVERYBODY
Some privileged Nigerians may consider ₦50,000 insignificant. But there are thousands of hardworking people who cannot raise even ₦5,000 to begin a legitimate trade.
There are women whose entire trays of tomatoes, pepper, vegetables, roasted groundnuts or akara ingredients are worth less than ₦50,000.
There are traders who borrow money every morning, sell throughout the day, repay the lender in the evening and return home with almost nothing.
To such people, ₦50,000 is not an insult.
It is stock.
It is working capital.
It is freedom from a daily moneylender.
It is an opportunity to buy directly from a wholesaler.
It may be the difference between sitting helplessly at home and earning something to feed a family.
An enterprising local trader does not necessarily need hundreds of thousands of naira to begin selling vegetables, pepper, fruits, akara, roasted corn or other everyday commodities.
