Nigeria's First Lady Oluremi Tinubu launches academy and clinic in Jigawa, defends micro‑trader aid

Nigeria's First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, inaugurated the President Bola Ahmad Tinubu Academy (also called Future Academy) and the Senator Oluremi Tinubu Clinic in Hadejia, Jigawa State. The academy, established by the Futuremap Foundation with the Renewed Hope Agenda and facilitated by NITDA, features a fabrication laboratory, maker space, AI‑powered innovation lab, 3D‑printing facilities and a residential hostel for trainees. The clinic includes a dialysis centre, operating theatre, maternity ward and renewable‑energy power system, aiming to provide local health‑tech services.

Following the inauguration, the President's special assistant on social media, Dada Olusegun, defended the First Lady's broader empowerment programme for micro‑traders, rejecting criticism over her support for akara and kulikuli sellers. He highlighted donations of ₦1 billion each to the National Cancer Fund and for tuberculosis diagnostic equipment, ₦250,000 to 1,709 military widows and orphans, and ₦200,000 grants to persons with disabilities. Partnerships with the Tony Elumelu Foundation have provided ₦50,000 grants to 18,500 women and equipment such as grinding machines and generators. Olusegun described the backlash as a “performative circus of selective amnesia” and stressed that micro‑traders are “the shock absorbers of our micro‑economy,” contributing over 50% of Nigeria’s GDP and more than 80% of employment.