Amid cash crunch, Reps take delivery of 200 exotic car

                
Over 200 members of the House of Representatives have taken delivery of brand new exotic cars, though all 360 lawmakers have yet to receive their July salaries.


On Sunday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, disclosed that over 200 members had been given Peugeot 508 series for “utility services.”

Namdas stated that by the plan of the House, all 360 lawmakers would have taken delivery of their cars by December 31.


Each of the vehicles cost N17m and will consume a total of N6.1bn to supply all 360 units.

Namdas spoke further, “Over 200 have been supplied out of 360 and we are still getting more.
“Every member will get a car by the end of this year. The issue is that the payment and supply of the vehicle is being done in instalments.
“The House and the company (Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited) agreed to this arrangement of paying and supplying in instalments.
“Naturally, not all the members can get their cars at the same time and we have explained to them why this cannot be possible.”

The PUNCH had reported exclusively on July 1 that contracts for the automobiles were awarded late 2015.

However, owing to delivery delays and insufficient budgetary releases to the House, the majority of lawmakers were unable to get their cars in close to two years.

About 223 of the 360 members were “freshers,” who first came to the National Assembly in 2015.

The new members are said to be most pained as they have had to fuel personal cars for work since June, 2015.