Senate has justified the purchase of 2023 model of the Toyota Landcruiser for members at the contract price of about N160 million each.
By Emma Ogbuehi
Not minding public outcry and criticisms by Nigerians, the Senate has justified the purchase of 2023 model of the Toyota Landcruiser for members at the contract price of about N160 million each. The lawmakers dismissed the objections by Nigerians to the purchase as as uncalled for as members of the other arms of government use similar vehicles
This is in addition to the bullet proof vehicles being purchased for Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his deputy, Barau Jibrin.
The justification comes days after public outcry trailed the disclosure that members of the House of Representatives were set to take delivery of Sport Utility Vehicle (SUVs) valued at 160 million naira each.
The move had generated heavy criticism, with some Nigerians lampooning the parliamentarians for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians amid high cost of living.
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Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and concerned Nigerians, have condemned the action, accusing the lawmakers of being insensitive to the economic crunch affecting the generality of the masses.
The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) had described the purchase of the SUVs for federal lawmakers as provocative at a time that most families can barely feed their members three square meals per day, and hospitals and roads are collapsing rapidly across the country.
In similar vein, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the National Assembly from procuring and taking delivery of exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials pending the hearing and determination of the applications for injunction filed by the organization.
But the Red Chamber defended the purchase of the SUVs, saying lawmakers needed the vehicles for their operations.
Briefing reporters at the National Assembly, Abuja, the chairman, Committee on Senate services, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi) said the criticism was uncalled for as members of the other arms of government use similar vehicles.
He urged critics to beam their search light on ministers and members of state assemblies.
He said, “A minister has more than three land cruisers, Prado and other vehicles and you are not asking them questions, why us? The issue of buying vehicles for National Assembly members, you know it is a recurring issue. It occurs every assembly, it will always come up.
“If you go to state houses of assembly today, check out, most of them before they were even inaugurated, the governor would have bought vehicles for them even local government chairmen. I drove the vehicle my local government chairman uses. So, why National Assembly?
“These vehicles that you see, go to Nigerian roads today, If I go home once, my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad.”
Karimi said the Senate settled for Toyota Landcruiser against a local product after a comparative of analysis of cost, technical issues and durability of Nigeria roads.
“We want something that we can maintain for another four years. It is not the decisions of the senators alone, we did an analysis before arriving at Land cruiser,” he said.
