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Economy Palaver: Hosts Now Serve Garri, Fish At Owambes, Appetisers Disappear

Published

3 years ago

February 20, 2023

… Ewa-agoyin takes prime position

Some options chosen by Nigerians in their lifestyle, due to increases in prices of goods and services, have continued to bewilder many.

These lifestyle alternatives have also found their way into Owambe’s (a nickname for parties, especially those with plenty of food and drinks).

In Nigeria, hosts at Owambes usually see to satisfying their guests with varieties of food like semo, beans, plantain, rice, Amala, among others.

But the continuous increase in the prices of goods and services has depleted this tradition, as hosts now serve garri and fried fish at parties.

Garri (cassava flakes) were meals not present at Owambes, but is converted to eba, which is consumed with ewedu and sauce, or vegetable or egusi soups at Owambes, where the majority of the guests are from the Western part of the country.

However, eba has long left the queues of meals served at Owambes.

Garri and fish take over at Owambes

Mrs Kehinde Salami, a businesswoman, told Economy and Lifestyle that such food had to be added to the menu because of the economic situation.

She identified other foods, apart from rice, which was recently added to food menu in parties and projected further changes in Owambe menus.

“Garri and fish will be served in parties in such perilous times. Even the garri, which was once consumed by poor people, is now cherished by the rich. The price of one paint rubber of white garri is now N900, compared to N200 it was sold years back.

“Even served with groundnut, guests will eat it. Some people do come to parties for food.

“The economy is not friendly to anyone and not all persons that come to a party dressed up are well-to-do.”

Partygoers embrace delicacy

Mr. Rotimi Hassan, a chef said: “It was a funny view when I followed a friend to such a party and saw people drinking garri and fried fish.

“Some were served jollof rice. This was a naming ceremony.

“The thing is that many people are now dropping these fancy meals and opting for local meals which are affordable in parties.

“Those days when meals are used as criteria to define a well-planned Owambe are gone.

“We are in the period of managing resources, including money, else when you cook varieties of food in parties, hoping that some persons will support you with gifts of money (such as spraying money on the celebrant on the dance floor during the party) you might be disappointed.”

Appetisers disappear from menu

Mrs Medeyomi Mautin, a cook, said that even those small chops and chinchin used as appetisers in parties has also disappeared due to the high costs of flour.

She noted that Owambe meal menus, which usually consists of six to 10 dishes, now barely holds four and that some Owambes don’t even see the need for menus.

“I have been cooking in parties for long. Some of the meals are prepared on the spot at the parties. Such meals are amala (yam flour) and appetizers such as puff-puff, spring rolls, chinchin, and small chops, among others. While some, such as asun (fried meat and pomo (cow skin) smudged with pepper), pepper soup, and others are prepared outside the party venue.

“But the costs of flour, meat, and other ingredients had made most clients opt for one or abandon all.

“Owambe food menus are not also left out. These menus contain up to 10 varieties of food. But barely contain four now.

“Some hosts even choose rice and salad, some just semo and vegetable soup, others chicken pie or meat pie and the latest is garri and fried fish.

“Despite all these changes, guests consume these foods with love and try to enjoy themselves to the fullest.”

Ewa-agoyin takes prime position

Mrs. Grace Akintayo, a plastic ware seller, said she has served ewa agoyin (mashed beans with palm oil sauce) and garri at her father’s burial in Badagry.

“When I did my father’s funeral at Badagry in January, ewa agoyin and garri was among the foods served.

“I thought people won’t like it because a friend of mine who has eaten garri and fish in a recent party prescribed the meal when I complained about the cost of preparing semo, tuwo and soup, and jollof rice.

“To my surprise, many guest ate it because they preferred it to rice.

“It also helped me save the cost of cooking tuwo and semo with soups which was one of my father’s people favourite delicacy.”

Headline

UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

Published

10 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

13 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

Headline

Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

Published

14 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.