The House of Representatives is taking a slow pace as regards the purchase of 360 exotic cars which it regards as ‘Utility’ or ‘Committee’ cars for its members.
The hold on the plan to purchase these ‘Utility’ cars is mainly due to the lack of sufficient funds to carry out the luxury plan.
An official told news agency, The PUNCH, in Abuja; “Funding for the cars will come from the 2016 budget. As you are aware, the budget has not been passed. The passage of the budget will decide how much will be available for vehicles,”
The brand of cars to purchase, is still under deliberation by the house as gathered from news source as a faction of the Lawmakers preferred the Peugeot 508 saloon cars while other voted the Toyota Camry, 2015 model.
While Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited had reportedly been soothing the nerves of the Lawmakers since December 2015 in order to sway their decision in its favour, majority of the Lawmakers seem to not be dancing to the company’s tune.
Another senior lawmaker added; “Look, all these talks will not stop us from buying our utility vehicles. We haven’t bought the vehicles because there is no money yet.
“We are going to buy the cars at the appropriate time. If a minister, who is junior in the order protocol to a legislator, has up to four Land Cruiser SUVs as officials vehicles, why do people think that just one Camry or Peugeot 508 is too much for a member?
“What is the uproar about? That a member is asking to buy a Camry to use for oversight duties is too big?
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, said “I think this car issue has generated too much hues and cries. The House has not bought any cars for now. We Will buy cars and the public will know about it because there is nothing to hide, really,”