The South-West Zonal Organising Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Comrade Wale Balogun, has criticised the Federal Government’s empowerment initiatives targeted at unemployed women, arguing that offering ₦50,000 grants for petty trading amounts to institutionalising poverty rather than creating genuine economic opportunities.
In a strongly worded statement issued on June 30, 2026, Balogun reacted to remarks attributed to First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, regarding support for women to engage in businesses such as frying akara, roasting corn and producing kulikuli.
Invoking a popular Yoruba prayer, Balogun said no society should accept endless hardship and economic stagnation as the destiny of its people.
“The Yoruba have a profound prayer: ‘Ao ni taraka ni ile aye wa’—may we never wander endlessly in hardship and suffer without progress in our lifetime. It is a prayer against perpetual poverty, deprivation and a future without hope,” he stated.
While emphasising that there is dignity in labour and nothing shameful about small-scale trading, the SDP chieftain maintained that presenting a ₦50,000 grant as a major economic empowerment programme for millions of struggling Nigerians sends a dangerous message about the direction of public policy.
According to him, such interventions amount to accepting poverty as a permanent condition rather than confronting its root causes.
“At a time when inflation has eroded purchasing power, food prices continue to rise, transportation costs have become unbearable and the cost of doing business keeps increasing, a ₦50,000 grant cannot be described as a pathway to prosperity. At best, it is a token gesture; at worst, it is an official endorsement of economic survivalism,” he said.
Balogun further questioned whether members of the political elite would recommend the same path to their own children as a means of achieving economic success.
“How many children of those in government and the political establishment are being encouraged to take ₦50,000 and begin frying akara by the roadside as their route to prosperity? The answer is obvious,” he declared.
The SDP official argued that the worsening economic realities confronting Nigerians are not products of laziness or unwillingness to work, but consequences of policies that have weakened businesses, reduced productive capacity and placed immense pressure on ordinary households.
He noted that unemployment and underemployment remain major national challenges, adding that even many employed citizens no longer earn wages sufficient to sustain their families or meet basic living expenses.
“The crisis facing Nigerians today goes beyond a shortage of jobs. It is fundamentally about the absence of decent, sustainable and dignified livelihoods,” Balogun said.
He linked the situation to the growing wave of emigration among Nigerian professionals, insisting that many skilled citizens continue to leave the country because opportunities for economic advancement and security have diminished at home.
According to him, a nation of more than 200 million people cannot build its future on what he described as economic survival mechanisms and symbolic palliatives.
He urged government at all levels to focus on policies that stimulate industrial growth, support local enterprises, improve access to credit, create productive employment and guarantee living wages capable of restoring dignity to work.
“The responsibility of leadership is not to normalise poverty but to create prosperity. Governance must inspire hope, expand opportunities and provide pathways for citizens, especially women and young people, to thrive,” he said.
Balogun reiterated the position of the SDP that Nigeria requires a new economic direction anchored on social justice, productive employment, inclusive growth and people-centred development.
He maintained that Nigerians deserve far more than policies aimed at mere survival, insisting that the country’s future must be built on opportunity, dignity and shared prosperity.
“As the nation looks ahead to the 2027 general elections, Nigerians must reject policies that perpetuate hardship and embrace alternatives committed to national renewal and economic advancement. Our people deserve a country where hard work is rewarded and every citizen can aspire not merely to survive, but to prosper,” the statement added.