The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, has said he made N10 million monthly income selling bean cake, popularly known as akara, and bread when he was a businessman.
The governor made this known at the September edition of the state’s monthly summit on Tuesday.
A snippet video of the governor’s address at the event is currently trending on social media.
Eno said he started his business by selling akara and bread, including a product he described as an akara burger, which involved putting akara inside bread.
He said people working at ExxonMobil patronised the business in the morning, adding that he later expanded it to include a coffee shop.
The governor said the akara and bread business generated nothing less than N10 million for him every month.
The governor’s disclosure comes barely three months after Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, suggested that poor Nigerians and youths start small-scale, low-capital businesses like selling akara using government grants rather than loans.
Meanwhile, a social critic, Emmanuel Udombon, has challenged the governor’s claim, arguing that the remark deserves public scrutiny, not blind acceptance.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the critic said there was nothing disgraceful about Eno having sold akara, but questioned the amount he claimed to have made from the business.
Udombon said the extraordinary figure was particularly questionable because the business was being operated from a particular location and Eno was not the sole producer and distributor of akara and bread in Akwa Ibom State.
He said if the governor was making N10 million in net profit every month, he would have needed to make roughly N333,333 in profit every day.
According to him, assuming that every piece of akara generated N100 in pure profit, the governor would have needed to sell about 3,334 pieces of akara every day.
He added that at N50 profit per akara, the figure would rise to about 6,667 pieces daily.
Udombon noted that such calculations had not taken into account the cost of beans, oil, pepper, onions, firewood or fuel, labour and other expenses associated with producing akara.
He added that bread sales would also require similar volumes and questioned the period being referenced by the governor.
The critic noted that the claim related to a period when bread and akara were sold at significantly lower prices compared with current prices and the naira had greater purchasing power.
Udombon also linked his criticism to an earlier claim by the governor concerning the state’s 13 per cent derivation revenue.
He cited a March claim that Akwa Ibom had stopped receiving the 13 per cent derivation from September 2025, which he said contradicted FAAC records showing that the state received N119.82 billion between September and December 2025.
He also referenced a news report which stated that Akwa Ibom received at least N2.934 trillion in 38 months under Eno.
Udombon said the governor’s latest account of his akara business raised questions about the figures rather than his decision to share his personal story.
He challenged Eno to explain how the business generated N10 million monthly at the location he described.
The critic said the governor should clarify if the N10 million figure represented turnover rather than profit or covered several businesses.
He argued that the claim should not simply be accepted because it was made at a public event.
Punch
