Minister of Works, David Umahi, has come to the defence of First Lady Oluremi Tinubu following backlash over her comments encouraging young Nigerians to embrace hard work and vocational skills.
Speaking during a public event, Umahi insisted that the First Lady’s advice was genuine and should not be turned into mockery, stressing that not everyone can become bankers or white-collar professionals.
“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,” he said.
The former Ebonyi State governor drew from his personal background, revealing that he was raised by hardworking parents despite their humble means.
“My mother was selling akara. My mother was a farmer. 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.”
Umahi also used the occasion to dismiss claims made by Arise Television presenter, Rufai Oseni, that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project contributed to flooding in Lagos.
Addressing the journalist directly, the minister said, “Leave this profession for us. We, the professors of infrastructure, leave it for us.”
The comments come amid ongoing public debate over the First Lady’s recent remarks encouraging Nigerians to embrace small-scale businesses and vocational work as pathways to economic survival and growth.
