Nigeria's First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, has urged Nigerians to engage in small-scale businesses such as selling akara (bean cake), roasting corn and producing kulikuli require little capital.

According to her, such can provide a means of livelihood amid economic hardship.

Speaking after hosting the wives of the 36 state governors in Abuja, Tinubu said her initiatives have focused on giving grants rather than loans to enable beneficiaries to start small businesses.

"We're trying to give hope and to start akara business doesn't take a lot of money. To start roasting corn… somebody even said about grants, you see they're saying that kulikuli doesn't take much. We didn't give them a loan, we gave it to them as a grant," she said.

She also revealed effort by the government to encourage Nigerians through different empowerment programmes.

"So we've encouraged Nigerians as best as we could. What is within our hands, I have given and I keep giving, you know, and those are the things we've done," she stated.

"I remember giving for TB when I heard there's so much TB cases, I gave two billion (naira). To breast cancer, I gave a billion (naira). To food malnutrition, I gave half a billion (naira).

"So those are the things we've been doing and making sure we can make sure that whatever this government is trying to do, that it will see the light of the day."