The senate has started taking delivery of 108 Toyota Land Cruiser Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) of which some have already been distributed amongst senators, sources say.
The cars were purchased at a gross total of N3.8bn which amounts to about N35.1m per vehicle. This is twice the going rate of the car which is at N17m.
The delivery is coming in spite of the controversy surrounding the purchase of the vehicles. The cars, it was further gathered, were distributed the same day some senators told the Senate President Bukola Saraki that standing committees could no longer perform their statutory functions as a result of lack of funds.
The cars started to come in on Tuesday with about 36 cars coming in. It was agreed by the senate that each senator from a state would receive one.
A senator told Daily Trust “Since only 36 were delivered at a meeting on Tuesday, it was agreed that one senator should be given from each of the 36 states of the federation. They were given the cars on Wednesday,”
The cars are reported to be coming in another two batches between now and May till every senator (bar the President) owns one.
The senator went on to condemn some of his colleagues who sold their own cars immediately after receiving it so that their constituents won’t know.
“Nigerians should watch out. Our colleagues have started receiving the cars but some have decided to sell theirs because they don’t want their people to know about them.
“If you collect the cars and you think you are doing the right thing, why won’t you drive it? Are they [Senators] not the ones who insisted on buying the cars? If it is legal and right, let them drive the cars to their constituencies,”
On the other hand, Spokesperson of the Senate, Aliyu Sabi Abdullah said of the purchase.
“Let us face the reality, if Special Advisers can use cars like this as official cars, then why the noise about ours? A senator is representing a constituency, a district. Do you expect him to be trekking to discharge his duties? These cars are not a luxury, the cars are a practical and absolute necessity,”
When asked about the lack of funds facing committees, he said: “It is not far from the problem everybody knows. It is not that the committees are not working; it is the quantum of the work; because one committee could organize five public hearings. So it is the quantum of work and limited resources.
“The cars are capital projects, while the public hearings are not. There is a difference between capital and recurrent expenditure,” he said.