The Senate and House of Representatives are reportedly set to spend over N40 billion on vehicles for lawmakers in the Red and Green Chambers of the National Assembly.
Saturday Sun reports that no fewer than 107 units of the 2023 model of the Toyota Landcruiser and 358 units of the 2023 model of Toyota Prado would be procured for the use of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives respectively.
According to the report, the planned purchase is different from the official vehicles expected to be purchased for the four presiding officers of the National Assembly. These are President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass; Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau; and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu.
The Senate Committee on Services, saddled with the responsibility of purchasing vehicles for lawmakers, will handle the negotiations and take delivery of them, the reported stated.
Senate President, Akpabio, had, during the week, constituted the Committee on Senate Services, headed by Kogi West senator, Sunday Karimi.
Though the Committee is expected to work with the management of the National Assembly, the purchase is the sole responsibility of the Senate.
The Senate Committee on Services is also expected to handle the purchase of two bulletproof vehicles for Akpabio and two for his deputy, Barau.
When contacted, the chairperson, House Ad-hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Khadija Bukar Ibrahim, told Saturday Sun that the preoccupation of the House at the moment is the issue of Committees.
“We are still concerned with committees. The issue of procurement of vehicles has not come up yet,” Bukar Ibrahim stated.
