Members of the House of Representatives in Nigeria have started taking delivery of their Sports Utility Vehicles, Sunday PUNCH reports.
Similarly, the first batch of SUVs will be delivered to their counterparts in the Senate this week.
It was also reported that the last batch of SUVs for lawmakers will arrive before December.
The National Assembly leadership had declared the purchase of imported SUVs for each lawmaker and bulletproof vehicles for key officers.
Meanwhile, this has generated public outrage, especially coming amid a huge debt burden and at a time when an unprecedented number of Nigerians live in poverty.
The SUVs for each of the 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives are estimated at N57.6 billion. According to reports, the vehicles would cost N160 million each.
The spokesperson for the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi, told Sunday PUNCH correspondent that members of the House had started taking delivery of the vehicles.
Rotimi said, “Some members have started taking delivery of their vehicles. Priority was given to women in the parliament, people with any form of disability and the elderly.
“The management has also ensured that only members who have been fully disposed of their court cases will be given the vehicles to avoid problems.”
Corroborating this, a member of the Green Chamber, who pleaded anonymity, noted that the management was very keen on members justifying the use of the vehicle for their legislative operations.
The source noted that the management had issued a circular to members not to sell any of the vehicles, stating clearly that it was the property of the National Assembly.
The source said, “This particular Assembly is very particular about things being done right. In previous assemblies, people would collect their vehicles and sell them off, but the Speaker has put his foot down against such.
“The spokesperson was mandated to issue a statement internally to members and ensure that no member must sell their vehicles as they are National Assembly property.
“Beyond the circular, the management is seriously following up, particularly to justify the purchase, because the vehicles were bought to give lawmakers a level of autonomy from the executive.”
According to top-level sources, the vehicles will arrive in three batches for the use of the committee chairmen and members.
Another source stated that although the vehicles had generated a lot of controversy and public discussions, they were to aid the lawmakers in performing their duties.
Last week, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, Sunday Karimi gave the reasons why the lawmakers jettisoned the country’s car manufacturing companies for Toyota, a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer.
Karimi, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, in the 10th National Assembly, spoke during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, claiming that the lawmakers chose Toyota because of evidence of quality and durability.
He added that Toyota products had been tried and tested while locally produced vehicles were still in the developing stage.
He said, “Today, we decided for foreign, Toyota, because Toyota has a name and a law standing for quality and durability. We decided to go for Land Cruiser Toyota which is tried and tested. Tomorrow, we patronize as local manufacturing develops. We are going to patronize them.”
But when asked if he and his colleagues were patriotic Nigerians considering how they shunned locally made vehicles for foreign-made ones at a time when Nigeria was struggling with forex earnings, Karimi said, “Yes (we are patriotic). I have just said something; as we develop in terms of quality and all that, we are going to patronize Nigerians.”
Karimi also identified the deplorable state of the country’s major roads as one of the reasons why they went for the posh vehicles.
