Minister of Works David Umahi has thrown his support behind First Lady Oluremi Tinubu following the backlash over her advice urging Nigerians to embrace vocational skills and small businesses.
Speaking at a public event, Umahi said the First Lady’s remarks were meant to encourage self-reliance and should not be dismissed or turned into ridicule.
The minister also reflected on his upbringing, revealing that his mother made a living selling akara while his father was a farmer. According to him, their hard work and modest occupations helped lay the foundation for his success.
Umahi argued that there is dignity in every honest means of livelihood, noting that not everyone can work in white-collar professions.
He said:
“When our First Lady, our Mother of the Nation, was trying to encourage the youths, we must change our work attitude. Everybody must be working, like in China. To take our country, everybody must be working. Everybody must have something to do.
“My mother was selling akara. My father was a farmer. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that having used that to train me, I will continue to farm at their scale, I will continue to sell akara at their scale.
“Why do we make joke of every genuine advice? Will everybody be a banker at the same time? So, let us be serious, for once.”
