SENATORS DEFEND WHY THEY SPLASHED 36.5 MILLION ON JEEPS

The chairman of the Senate
Committee on Services,
Ibrahim Gobir, has defended
the Senate’s decision to pay
N36.5 million for each of
dozens of Toyota Land
Cruisers recently acquired for
senators.
The senate has come under
fire for apparently spending
far more than the open
market cost of each of the
vehicles, and more
importantly for spending the
huge amount at a time of
national economic crisis.
Mr. Gobir told journalists on
Tuesday in Abuja that the
specification of the acquired
vehicles were higher than
those reported in the media.
According to him, the
specification of Land
Cruisers was VXR V8 not V6.
 The car we bought
is Land Cruiser VXR
V8, not V6,” said Mr.
Gobir. 
 The showroom price
is about N31 million
minimum and then
when you add 10 per
cent tax it becomes
36.5 million. 
 In fact you can go
to the internet and
download it; it is very
simple, we can give you
the website, and you
can see them. 
 So, I think what we
have purchased the car
for is very reasonable.

He also said that the Senate
purchased only 36 vehicles,
contrary to media reports
that it procured 108 cars.
 A lot has been
happening within the
last two days
concerning the issue of
cars, car loan,
appropriation and cost
of the cars and we feel
it necessary to come
out and inform the
public about it. 
 This is so, so that
people can have a
better understanding of
the whole thing to
avoid wrong perception
as being created among
Nigerians. 
 That we bought 108
cars is totally wrong; it
is not correct. We
bought 36 cars. 
 These 36 cars, each
senator in each state is
either a chairman or a
vice chairman and we
gave one car to each
state to share as utility
car. So, we don’t have
money to buy 108 cars.

 We had a closed
session and they agreed
that we should give one
car per state; we sat
down and agreed who
needs the car most and
that was what
happened,” he said. 
Mr. Gobir also denied
allegations that the senate
purchased the cars without
appropriation.
According to him, on the
issue of buying cars without
appropriation, it is totally
wrong because this has been
appropriated in the 2015
budget.
 So, we used what we
have in the 2015
budget to buy the 36
cars so that it can go
round to each state,”
he stated. 
On reports that the
lawmakers earlier accessed
loans for the purchase of
cars, Mr. Gobir said no
lawmaker got any form of
loan for the purchase of car.
He responded to massive
criticisms from Nigerians
about the Senate’s
insensitivity in spending
such money on cars given
Nigeria’s present economic
challenge, saying purchase
of 36 cars as against 109
was informed by senate’s
concern for state of the
economy.
 We are supposed to
buy 109 cars but
because of the paucity
of funds, because of our
sensitivity and concern
for lack of funds, we
bought only 36 to go
round per state,” Mr.
Gobir said. 
He decried the level of
criticism on the National
Assembly in spite of efforts
to cut down cost to meet
present economic reality.
 Come to think of it,
there is no minister
that hasn’t got about
three, four cars – one
Land Cruiser, maybe a
back-up and two Hilux
cars. 
 There is no director
in the civil service that
hasn’t got a car. There
is no permanent
secretary that hasn’t
got a Land Cruiser. 
 In fact, every House
of Assembly member
has either a Prado or a
Land Cruiser and here
is a senator you say he
cannot have one Land
Cruiser,” he added. 