By now, poor akara deserves an official apology from many Nigerians, as in less than a week, the humble bean cake has travelled farther in Nigeria’s political conversation than many government policies.
It has become so politically important that one would think President Bola Tinubu’s next cabinet reshuffle would create a Ministry of Akara Affairs.
The jokes have been endless, with someone even asking whether universities should begin to offer Bachelor’s degrees in Roasted Corn Management, another wondering whether ‘Renewed Hope’ had quietly become ‘Renewed Hawking’, just as another joked that Nigeria’s next industrial revolution would begin with kuli-kuli.
But behind the laughter lies the widening gap between the government’s messaging and how millions of Nigerians experience the economy.
The first lady, Oluremi Tinubu, was speaking about government grants for women and encouraging micro-enterprises, using businesses such as selling akara, roasted corn and kuli-kuli as examples of ventures that require relatively little start-up capital.
Her central message appeared to be that no honest business is too small and that the government is supporting such entrepreneurs through grants rather than loans.
In itself, that is a reasonable point because many successful businesses started as small ventures, and every legitimate means of earning a living deserves respect.
In fact, it is difficult to build any thriving economy without thousands of micro-enterprises, as across developing economies, informal businesses provide employment, absorb economic shocks, and often grow into sustainable enterprises. Every economist understands this.
Ironically, many Nigerians who mocked the remarks would probably agree with that principle if it were presented in a business seminar. So why did the conversation explode?
I think it exploded because Nigerians were responding to the context rather than the message itself. In politics, context is everything, and leadership communication does not exist in a vacuum because citizens interpret it through the realities they confront every day.
This explains why so many Nigerians appeared to miss what the first lady was trying to say. Or perhaps more accurately, they heard something different because their daily realities have become louder than official explanations.
Citizens who trust their government are more likely to give its statements the benefit of the doubt, but where trust has been eroded by hardship and unmet expectations, even well-intentioned remarks can provoke outrage rather than understanding, as the reaction to the first lady’s comments showed.
If unemployment were declining, purchasing power improving and household incomes recovering, many Nigerians might have applauded the first lady’s encouragement of entrepreneurship.
Instead, they saw another reminder of shrinking economic aspirations, and that distinction should deeply concern the presidency because the backlash says less about akara than it says about public confidence.
Governments often make the costly mistake of dismissing criticism as opposition when it is, in fact, one of the clearest forms of public feedback. Rather than dismissing those reactions, the President Tinubu administration should study them carefully.
Those who listen have the opportunity to rebuild trust before the next issue, whether it is akara, roasted corn or something else entirely, becomes yet another referendum on the state of the nation.
Photo source: Akinkuotu Funmi
