Reps Committee chair, justifies buying cars worth N6.1bn

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, justifies the purchase of 50 Peugeot 508 cars (which cost N17m per vehicle) for lawmakers, in this interview with JOHN AMEH.

The House of Representatives has ordered 360 units of Peugeot 508 cars. Why is that necessary?

People should get this thing right; the order for the cars was not recent. The issue of 360 cars has been there in the last nine months.

We actually took delivery of 50 of the cars about nine months ago. The additional 200 cars that were supplied lately came in batches. It has been an ongoing process.

The vehicles are meant for the utility services of members; for example, committee work. It is known everywhere that parliamentarians undertake what is called oversight functions.

An oversight function requires moving from one place to another and, therefore, we need these utility vehicles.

Members of the National Assembly and, in this case, the House of Representatives, belong to many committees. Their attention is needed once in a while to visit one project site or another. They cannot go on such a visit on foot.

They will need to use vehicles. This practice is not exclusive to the National Assembly. Members of the state Houses of Assembly also embark on such visits and they also require utility vehicles.

UCJ, UNILORIN.