During the opening of the recently finished Abubakar Maje Haruna Hall at the Emir of Hadejia’s Palace in Jigawa State on Monday, she clarified the situation. Her remarks came after she had previously mentioned companies like akara, roasted corn and kuli-kuli while talking about government assistance for small businesses, which sparked intense backlash on social media.
In response to the criticism, the First Lady stated that small enterprises that deal in tomatoes, peppers, vegetables, roasted plantains (bole), and other items are included by the empowerment effort.

“We have already donated N100 million to the Jigawa State Government to empower 2,000 petty traders because of what is happening,” she stated.

“I am aware that some have said that I only brought up Akara. Akara is not the only one. In our markets, there are also vendors selling vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, and bole.

“We’ll keep empowering them by giving them more resources so they can build sustainable businesses.” She also revealed that N50,000 would be given to each recipient so they could recapitalise their businesses.  2,000 women have already started small firms, according to our findings. To help them grow their enterprises, each of them would get N50,000. “The N100 million has already been disbursed,” she stated.

The First Lady insisted that the administration would continue to carry out its empowerment initiatives despite opposition from the people. “I am aware that the people who gain from these interventions value them. Inaccurate reports do not terrify us. We’ll keep going forward to make sure our folks receive the care they need,” she continued.