The Senate has justified the purchase of a 2023 model of Toyota Landcruiser for members at the contract price of about N160 million each, saying even Local Government Chairmen drive good cars. This is in addition to the bullet proof vehicles being purchased for Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his deputy, Barau Jibrin. The move had created heavy criticism, with some Nigerians criticising the parliamentarians for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians amid high cost of living and worsening inflation. The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) had said procuring SUVs for federal lawmakers was provocative at a time that most families can barely feed their members three square meals per day, and hospitals and roads are collapsing rapidly all across the country.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) also requested the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the National Assembly from buying exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials pending the hearing and determination of the applications for injunction filed by the organization.
However, the red chamber through its Chairman Committee on Senate Services, Senator Sunday Karimi (APC Kogi West) defended the purchase of the SUVs, saying lawmakers needed the vehicles for their operations.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Senate Services, Sunday Karimi, wondered why Nigerians were not talking about the ministers who ride about four official vehicles.
“Somebody that is a minister has more than three Land Cruisers, Prado and other vehicles and you are not asking them questions, why us?
“These vehicles that you see, go to Nigeria roads today, if I go home once to my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad.
“I said the decision that we took on using a Land Cruiser is for the cost and durability. Before they came up with this. It is not the decisions of the senators alone, we did an analysis before arriving at land cruisers.
“It was based on a comparative analysis of the cost of technical issues and durability on Nigeria roads.
“We want something that we can maintain for another four years and the issue of buying vehicles from the National Assembly, you know it is a recurring issue, it occurs every assembly; it will always come up.
“If you got to state houses of assembly today, check out most of them before they were even inaugurated, the governor would have bought vehicles waiting for them, even local government chairmen.
“I drove the vehicle my local government chairman uses, so why (question) the National Assembly?” Karimi asked.
