Former Minister of Transportation and ex-Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has declared that he has no love for wealth or material possessions, despite spending nearly four decades in Nigerian politics.
Naija News reports that Amaechi emphasised his modest lifestyle, stating that not only does he avoid ostentation, but even his wife drives his backup vehicle.
Speaking in a recent interview with The Sun, Amaechi described his lifestyle as unassuming despite nearly four decades in politics.
At 60, the former governor said he has maintained a clean record and modest standard of living even at the highest levels of governance.
“I don’t like money. Are you not surprised that I have been in Nigerian politics from when I was 22 till now? I am 60. So, you are talking about 38 years of being in politics.
“What scandals have you heard of me? Have you heard oh, Amaechi stealing money? Amaechi is this? Simple! As you entered here, did you see posh cars? My wife doesn’t even have a car. I have to provide my back up car. That is what she drives,” Amaechi said.
Reflecting on his time as governor, Amaechi expressed that he might have missed the opportunity to revolutionise housing in Rivers State by failing to explore the scale of solutions available.
“Well, there are things you could have done differently, but that does not mean I have regrets. There are things that ordinarily, take for instance; I could as well have borrowed money to build,” he added.
He elaborated on how his tenure as Transport Minister opened his eyes to large-scale housing possibilities, drawing lessons from densely populated nations.
“There are six million Rivers people, for instance. We could have borrowed money to build six million houses. If you build high rise and all that, in fact, it was my contact in the Ministry of Transport that made me know that actually, you can build six million houses for six million Rivers people.
“The question the person asked me was, how do you think we accommodate our 1.4 billion persons? Are they living on the streets?
“Are they in the air? We accommodate them. So, ordinary six million, you can’t accommodate them? It was an idea that just struck me when I became a minister. But if I had known that as a governor, I would possibly have borrowed money to build those six million houses for them,” he stated.
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