Senate says it bought only 36 Toyota SUVs for N1,314,000,000, saying it rejected the N872 million car loan voted for the 109 lawmakers in the apex lawmaking body.
Chairman, Committee on Senate Services, Ibrahim Gobir, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja, also denied claims that the 109 senators had collected loans to purchase their official cars. He said contrary to media reports, no lawmaker was given any car loan.
According to the federal lawmaker, the Senate reduced the number of cars to only 36 to represent one senator per state, pointing out that the initial price of each car was about N28 million.
His words: “We only got 36 cars. Each senator in every state is either a chairman or a vice. We gave a car to three senators from each state to share among themselves. We did not buy 108 cars. We cannot afford it. The cost of the car is N36.5 million. They are V8 cars and not V6 as being reported.
“This particular car sells for about $90,000. That is about N28 million. By the time you add 1 percent, it will amount to about N36 million per car. We are supposed to buy 109 cars but because we are concerned about the situation of things, we decided to buy only 36.”
Explaining that the lawmakers were not insensitive to the economic realities, Gobir said they decided to opt for only 36 cars, adding that the vehicles would be distributed to three senators from the 36 states.
He revealed that the lawmakers would agree on how the vehicle would be utilised.
“There is no minister, director or director-general that has not bought a car. Yet, people are saying we cannot have our cars. Even members of the State Houses of Assembly have their cars. No senator was given a car loan. We refused to take it. None took any. We currently have not requested for more cars because we cannot afford it,” he said.
