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No Money To Hold 'Owambe' Under Buhari Govt, Says Amaechi

Mr Rotimi Ameachi, the Minister of Transportation has said President Muhammadu Buhari has ended practice of getting 'free money' from government under different illicit guises and as such, there is no fund to be deployed for frivolities Nigerians are known for like ‘owambe’ (parties).

The minister said this at the presentation of a book authored by the late Dr. Matthew Mbu, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs titled, ‘Dignity in Service where he revealed that ministers earn just N950,000 a month.

Mr. Ameachi, a former governor of Rivers State, added that it is out of the N950,000 that he pays for his accommodation and also settles his personal staff.

He pointed out that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had

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stopped the culture of waste, such that citizens no longer throw lavish parties.

He said, “A minister earns only N950, 000 a month. Out of this money, N350, 000 is for accommodation, so there is no more money given to you. The remaining N600, 000 includes payment for your staff, personal assistants and all that.”

He continued, “Nigerians like going to parties. That is one benefit of this government. We now assess our wealth and value money. Before, once you get money from the illegal means, we hold parties. There are very few parties these days because there is no more money to hold such parties. There are no ‘owambe’ anymore because there is very little money to hold ‘owambe.’ The reason is that the ‘owambe’ money used to come from the government and there is no money in the government to do such.”