Is it Auspicious for N’Assembly Members to Use Imported Utility Vehicles?

The decision of the National Assembly management to procure over inflated sports utility vehicles without bullet-proof facilities for federal lawmakers in the country is still generating controversy, Sunday Aborisade reports.

By tradition, the National Assembly bureaucracy usually procure official vehicles for all elected members of the nation’s apex legislative institution in every Assembly for a period of four years.

Each lawmaker is expected to either buy the vehicle off after the four-year term or leave it behind to be kept in the pool for any other usage as determined by the management.

The current situation regarding the purchase of the vehicles in the National Assembly is however generating serious controversies for obvious reasons.

In the first instance, many Nigerians are of the opinion that since the country is undergoing it’s worst economic challenges since independence with the breadwinners struggling to provide basic needs at home, the federal lawmakers should also identify with the plights of the people by embracing cheaper, locally manufactured SUVs.

Rather than exhibiting empathy for the suffering masses, the lawmakers opted for imported SUVs with the Senators going for the Land cruisers at a cost of N160m each  while the House of Representatives members collected Prado Jeeps valued at about N140m each.

Interestingly, reports indicated that members of the opposition political parties were among the first set to collect the vehicles at the federal parliament.

In their arguments, the legislators said they opted for the foreign vehicles because of its durability considering the fact that most Nigerian roads are in deplorable conditions.

When the civil society organisations discovered that their cries fell on deaf ears, one of them, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), asked the Federal High Court in Lagos State to stop the House of Representatives from procuring and taking delivery of 360 SUVs amounting to the sum of N57.6 billion for its members, “pending the hearing and determination of the applications for injunction filed by the organisation.”

SERAP in its applications for “interim and interlocutory injunction” followed reports that the lawmakers are set to procure and take delivery of the SUVs.

The organisation, according to its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, who quoted some reports in the media space, said, “each of the SUVs would cost taxpayers at least N160 million.”

THISDAY checks have however revealed that contrary to the expectations of the lawmakers their vehicles did not come with the bullet-proof facilities, only those of the four presiding officers did.

Reacting to the development on condition of anonymity during the week, a member of the House of Representatives from a federal constituency in the South West geopolitical zone, said he was disappointed that the management allocated an ordinary jeep with a market value of about N70m to them at a cost of about N160m.

“The understanding before we settled for the imported SUVs was that they should be durable with bullet-proof facilities.

“If the money was given to me, I would have opted for an SUV of about N40m and another Hilux double cabin of about N20m while I spent the rest on my constituency. The vehicle is too expensive for the price they are giving us,” the lawmaker lamented.

However, most of the Senators who reacted justified the need for them to ride the N160m luxury vehicles considering the fact that unelected ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of federal agencies are entitled to between two to four exotic vehicles for official purposes.

Chairman of Senate Committee on services,

Senator Sunday Karimi, justified the purchase of the  SUVs for its members saying the decision was based on lawmakers conviction that they would last longer than locally manufactured ones.

Karimi, who spoke with journalists on the matter, was however, silent on the actual cost of each vehicle.

He wondered why Nigerians were not talking about the Ministers who ride about four official vehicles.

He said, “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 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. Am I talking  to somebody?

“I said the decision that we took on using land cruiser is 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 comparative analysis of cost of technical issues and durability on Nigeria roads, are you getting me?

We want something that we can maintain for another four years and the issue of buying vehicles from national assembly, you know it is a reccurring issue, it occurs every assembly, it will always come up.

“If you get 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 National Assembly?”

Justifying the high cost of the vehicles, Karimi said it was because the National Assembly owed the suppliers about N16bn.

He said, “The cost, let me tell you, hello, listen to me, you know I am the chairman, senate service.  When I came into the senate, when they gave me their liability, they have a liability of over N16 billion that is made up of different  vehicles of 7th Assembly, 8th and 9th assembly.

“If you are a business man and you supply vehicles for somebody in 2014 or 2015 or so and up till now they owed you.

“I am not trying to defend anybody, if you see them selling land cruiser in the market let say it is A cost, you don’t expect somebody that will supply it to supply it at the price they are selling it in the market. It has to leave a margin and the civil service for supply they allowed for 25% margin plus that and VAT and I think that VAT is 7.5 out of that  25 cent margin they will still remove 5 per cent tax from it.

“You are telling someone to supply and he may even not end up making payment for three years and you want him to supply at the price they are selling in the market, it is not possible,” he added.

A rights activist, Dr. Rexkennedy Saltlove, said Senate’s response to the criticisms trailing the purchase of SUVs remained the most pedestrian from an institution.

He noted that the re­sponse smacked of a lack of patriotism from the law­makers.

According to him, “The response smacks of lack of patriotism from a bunch of people who legislate or make laws that should drive patriotism among citizens.

“Indirectly sending a message, that Nigeria and what affects it is not an is­sue of common interest, but more of personal in­terest.

“That response portrays a bunch of people suffering from a complex mentality, in view of their compari­son to the Ministers.

“It is really sad and saddening that most of these men in the National Assembly be­lieve their relevance in life is continued politicking, because most cannot and have not moved one single motion or bill to add value to their senatorial district, state or Nation”.

A Chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Ambassador Olufemi Ajadi Oguntoyinbo, also criticized members of the National Assembly for their plans to purchase the  SUVs, with each car costing up to N160 million. He expressed his view that they are insensitive to the current suffering experienced by many Nigerians.

Ajadi in a statement ossued last Friday, expressed his surprise, along with many other Nigerians, at the insensitivity of Senators who are meant to represent the people. He believed the lawmakers are pretending to be unaware of the hardships faced by a significant number of Nigerians at the moment.

He said, “Nigerians are currently enduring significant challenges due to the removal of the subsidy on petroleum products and other harsh economic conditions.

“How can those representing the people in the National Assembly could be so self-centered and uncaring for the people they are meant to represent.

“Many Nigerians are unable to feed themselves. Many are dying daily due to poverty. Many school children are dropping out of school because of the current high inflation rate.

“It is distressing that our senators and members of the House of Representatives are thinking and acting as if they don’t live in Nigeria. They are behaving as if the plight of Nigerians is not their concern. They are highly insensitive and morally unaware of the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.”

“If they were sensitive, would they be discussing cars costing billions of Naira when the exchange rate of Naira to the dollar is undeniably embarrassing?

“It is also disheartening that many of our legislators are justifying the purchase of these SUVs at such an exorbitant rate by pointing to the poor state of roads across the country.

“That cannot be a justification; the poor condition of our roads signifies that they are not performing well in government.

“We need to ask them, whose responsibility is it to provide good roads if not the Federal Government, of which the Senators are a part.”