REMEMBERING MY KULIKULI UNIVERSITY DAYS
Recently the first lady and mother of the nation, distinguished Senator Oluremi Tinubu has come under attack from expected quarters and naysayers over her innocent and concerned comment of admonition to Nigerians to take up small businesses like Akara and Kulikuli among others that require little capital as a means out of poverty and prosperity.
Unfortunately her statement has been mischievously construed as insensitive and attacked with all sorts of invectives that expose the ignorance and idleness of the minds of her critics.
For our collective information and education, our history as a people is replete with the commercial success stories of ordinary Nigerians who built business empires, properties and even sent children to school overseas with proceeds from businesses in padlocks, keys, ceiling nails, kulikuli, groundnut and pop corn, fried balls (Akara), yam, plantain, shoe polish, cutlasses, hoes, shovels, rake, fufu, etc.
As a student in the university in the early nineties, I remember vividly well that in those days, apart from beans, the next staple food of students that kept most of us alive throughout our tertiary education days, was kulikuli that we used to drink garri. No matter the economic status of the home you come from, kulikuli was the leveller and life saver for most if not, at least 90-95% of Nigerian students.
Moreso when you exhaust your allowance before the appointed days, you dare not go back home save for some few, to ask for replenishment unlike what obtains these days. Happily, I still maintain my love for kulikuli, like some of my peers then, till date
Some of the off campus hostels that students occupied, were built and rented out by persons whose lives revolved around small businesses like the sales of kulikuli, Akara and eko (thick pap in leaves foil), among others.
Till date one is aware of generations that have made a fortune out of businesses like kulikuli, aro (dye), ceiling nails, fufu, shoe polish, padlocks, keys, etc. These were persons whose businesses were inherited by some of their children and are subsisting till date.
In fact some of our friends who secured white collar jobs, while some of their siblings joined the parents in the businesses mentioned, are in the habit of lamenting, how they still get regular humongous handouts and monetary gifts from their parents, and wished they had followed in their parents footsteps.
Some of those who have ignorantly and idly joined the choir to attack the first lady for her reverence of our proud old days of the mantra of dignity in labour when people created peace of mind, happiness and wealth out of their sweat, unlike these days of get rich quick by and any means and for which these generation sadly and unfortunately see the business of kulikuli and Akara and other small businesses as that of the poor and insignificant of which it is not.
Business empires have been built by families which engaged in the businesses of kulikuli, Akara, aro, ceiling nails, moi moi, fufu, etc, and made a fortune out of it, which is a fact of our history that remains unchanged.
Therefore, as the critics fall over one another to attain orgasm over the first lady's innocent and motherly comment which is within their right, one would like to remind them that in life, like distinguished Senator Oluremi admonished, there is no crime committed in starting small, what matters is the focus and the determination to succeed and the scripture teachings according to Zechariah 4:10, "Do not despise these small beginnings" is a pointer.
Nelson Ekujumi
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