By Celestine Kezie Jnr
I listened to Peter Obi speak in Owerri during his consultation tour to Imo. He said something that caught my attention. Talking about cutting the cost of governance, he said that even guests to White House in America pay for their food. E shock me!
I quickly googled it thus: “If you are invited to White House, do you pay for your meal”? This is an excerpt of the response I got:
“……..the vast majority of the time the guests pick-up their own expenses. The White House has extremely limited budgets in those areas, almost non existent.
If an organisation wants to have a grip and grin reception with the President then that organisation pays for all the food, drinks, and any entertainment. Chef and Wait Staff will be White House employees”.
Here in Nigeria, our consumption-driven politicians not only invite themselves to state houses as often as they want to make merry but also are picky about the drinks they take. Of course, Champaign is their favourite. They always go for it.
Perhaps, they even sit down to discuss how to borrow more money over bottles of champagne.
God-willing this nonsense will be curtailed drastically if not stopped entirely. Addicts to hedonism should practice it in their houses with their personal money not with tax papers money.
