Amid Economic Hardship, Reps Speak On Plan To Buy Official Vehicles For Lawmakers With ‘N200m’

Amid Economic Hardship, Reps Speak On Plan To Buy Official Vehicles For Lawmakers With ‘N200m’

The House of Representatives has acknowledged plans to acquire official vehicles for its members. Nevertheless, it refutes claims that each vehicle will incur a cost of N200 million to taxpayers.

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Akin Rotimi (APC, Ekiti), the House spokesperson, clarified this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja. Recent media reports had suggested that the National Assembly was procuring vehicles for its members at a unit cost of N200 million.

With a total of 360 members in the House, Mr. Rotimi (APC, Ekiti) stated in the release that these reports have been “exaggerated,” yet he confirmed that the procurement process is indeed in progress.

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Although, the spokesperson failed to provide details and the “real cost” and the type of the vehicle, he said the process followed the “procurement laws and has been the practice in previous assemblies.”

“While many versions of this story carry varying exaggerations, we can confirm that the National Assembly bureaucracy is in the phased process of procuring and distributing operational vehicles to honourable members over the coming weeks and months,” he added.

In a bid to justify the purchase, Mr Rotimi said appointees of the executive and high-level civil servants also have their official vehicles.

“This development is in accordance with extant procurement laws and has been the practice in previous assemblies. It is also not peculiar to the Legislature, as unelected government officials in the Executive arm of government from the Assistant Director level and above, in most cases, have official vehicles attached to their office,” he said.

He explained that the vehicles are not gifts to members, but operational vehicles that will remain the property of the National Assembly.

“It is important to make a few clarifications. The vehicles to be allocated to the offices of honourable members are utility operational vehicles tied to their oversight functions in the discharge of their duties in the standing committees. They are not personal vehicles gifted to honourable members.

“For the duration of the 10th assembly (2023 – 2027), the vehicles shall remain the property of the National Assembly. At the expiration of the tenure of the 10th Assembly in 2027, should the extant assets deboarding policy of government still be in place, honourable members may have the option of making payment for the outstanding value of the vehicles to government coffers before they can become theirs, otherwise it remains the property of the National Assembly,” he said.

Some Nigerians have condemned the plan to procure official vehicles at a time when Nigerians are facing economic hardship due to the removal of subsidies on petrol.

In July, President Bola Tinubu approved N70 billion in the 2022 supplementary budget for the members of the National Assembly.

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