Tag Archives: Exotic Cars

Dogara bribing lawmakers with N3.6 billion car purchase spree – Jibrin

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Suspended lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, over the weekend advised Nigerians to be sceptical of reasons given by the House of Representatives for the purchase of new Peugeot cars.

Lawmakers started taking delivery of Peugeot 508 saloon cars —priced at N10 million each— about two weeks ago, eliciting a huge backlash from Nigerians who said the National Assembly has become a congregation of insensitive politicians.

All the 360 members of the House are expected to benefit from the welfare package at an estimated cost of N3.6 billion to taxpayers.

Nigerians were particularly infuriated about the latest spending spree by lawmakers because it came barely weeks after the country’s economy nosedived into recession.

The distribution, which the House said was needed for legislative functions, is on top of the humongous salaries, allowances and other welfare packages which everyday Nigerians had long groaned was amongst the highest in the world.

Writing from his self-imposed exile in London, Mr. Jibrin said the vehicle purchase binge marked the latest manifestation of the sharp practices that have become synonymous with the parliament under Yakubu Dogara’s leadership.

The Kano lawmaker, who was suspended on September 28 for highlighting possible budget fraud in the House, said Mr. Dogara approved the purchase as a quid pro quo for guaranteed loyalty from members.

“The hurried purchase of the cars is part of the carrot and stick approach deployed by Speaker Dogara to silent members and ensure that the allegations of massive budget fraud and corruption against him never sees the light of the day,” Mr. Jibrin said.

He said lawmakers hardly take a long ride on oversight functions, making the purchase of 360 new vehicles insensitive, reckless and unnecessary.

Mr. Jibrin said administrators of ministries, departments and agencies which lawmakers usually supervise for wrongdoings are usually responsible for logistics of all lawmakers.

“It is an outright lie that the cars are needed for oversight as over 80 per cent of oversight activities of the House of Representatives are carried out in Abuja,” Mr. Jibrin said. “And in almost all instances, it is the MDAs that arrange buses to convey members from the premises of the House to the respective MDAs.”

In the case of “areas that are far away from Abuja, members always use flights to the nearest location while the MDAs arrange vehicles and other logistics to complete the visit.

“In almost all instances the MDA’s provide accommodation and pay for the tickets and other logistics,” Mr. Jibrin said.

Mr. Dogara’s media aide, Turaki Hassan, did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ request for comment Monday night.

But Abdulrazak Namdas, the spokesman for the House, confirmed Monday night that 28 lawmakers have so far benefitted from the scheme —with additional 22 more to collect before the end of the year.

“The vehicles are being distributed in batches of 50 vehicles per delivery,” Mr. Namdas said. “I can confirm that 28 lawmakers have collected and we plan to give additional 22 members from the first 50 vehicles that arrived.”

Mr. Namdas, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES from a gathering of West African parliamentarians in Ghana, said the lawmakers did, in fact, put Nigerians into consideration while deliberating on the purchase.

“Please, let Nigerians understand that these vehicles will not be paid for at once,” Mr. Namdas said. “We will pay on instalments from now until the end of this Assembly in 2019.”

“Also, note that we bought the vehicles from Peugeot Automobile Nigeria, this is because we understand the need to boost local production and keep people in their jobs at the company.

“We did all that because we knew Nigerians were going through a hard time as a result of the economic downturn,” Mr. Namdas said.

The lawmaker also suggested that the cost per unit of the vehicles may be seen as an uptick as a result of the lingering foreign exchange crisis.

“You know the dollar has gone up now and we’re already hearing that there may be a review of the prices that were quoted when we initially negotiated the deal,” Mr. Namdas said.

But he said the controversy over the purchase was only the latest misplaced outrage from the public.

“There shouldn’t be any controversy over this matter because we’ve been on it for over a year,” Mr. Namdas said.

The reps controversy came seven months after their counterparts in the Senate took delivery of exotic SUVs, which civic groups decried as “ungodly” and “criminal.”

Activist sues National Assembly over purchase of multi-billion Naira cars

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A Lagos-based lawyer and activist has urged a federal court to declare as unlawful the purchase of exotic cars by lawmakers in the National Assembly.

Malcolm Omirhobo said he is suing the lawmakers for himself and on behalf of the people of Nigeria.

Joined as defendants in the suit before the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court are the Attorney General of the Federation and the National Assembly.

Last week, the House of Representatives began delivery of the first batch of 360 Peugeot cars to lawmakers in Abuja.

The House had allocated N3.6 billion in the 2016 budget for the purchase of the cars.

The delivery of the vehicles to members of the Lower House came months after the Senate began its own allocation of 108 four-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles budgeted at N36.5 million each.

The lawmakers’ actions had drawn intense criticism from Nigerians who questioned the acquisition of such luxury cars amidst a recession.

In his suit, Mr. Omirhobo urged the court to decide:

“Whether the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, applies to all procurement of goods, works and services carried out by the government.

“Whether the Senate and House of Representatives have complied with the provision of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 in the procurement of their official cars?

“Whether in the face of the Public Procurement Act, it is lawful for the defendants to refuse to patronize and purchase affordable locally manufactured cars for official use.

“Whether it is lawful and legal for the senate to acquire cars at prices twice the market price value

“Whether in the face of section 42 of the 1999 constitution, for the defendants to use of tax payers money to purchase exotic and expensive cars considering the country’s economic situation.”

He, therefore, seeks a declaration that by the provisions of the Public Procurement Act , 2007, it is unlawful for the defendants to purchase their official cars without complying with the provisions of the Act.

Mr. Omirhobo sought a declaration that it is wasteful for the defendants not to purchase made in Nigeria car as their official vehicles.

He urged for an order of perpetual injunction, restraining the defendants from purchasing their official cars, without compliance with the public procurement Act.

He also sought an order, compelling the defendants to purchase affordable locally manufactured cars as their official cars instead of imported/foreign, exotic and expensive cars.

No date has been fixed for hearing of the new suit.

Despite recession, Reps take delivery of N3.6 Billion exotic cars.

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The delivery of 360 exotic cars to members of the House of Representatives has begun amid the economic downturn in the country.

Investigations by The PUNCH revealed on Sunday that 28 units of the Peugeot 508 series had already been delivered to lawmakers in Abuja.

The 28 were among the first batch of 50 cars supplied by the Kaduna-based Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited.

The House allocated a princely N3.6bn for the cars in the 2016 budget at a unit price of N10m.

A National Assembly top aide told The PUNCH on Sunday that the arrangement with Peugeot was that the company would supply the vehicles in batches because of the huge number of members involved.

“Fifty cars will be supplied in the first batch; 28 have already been delivered. That was last week.

“Twenty-two more in the first batch are expected to be delivered this week,” the source stated.

Findings indicated that the luxury cars would arrive in Abuja in batches till January, 2017 when all 360 members would have picked a unit.

About 223 of the members of the House are new, having come to the National Assembly for the first time in 2015.

But all 360 members will still benefit from the luxury cars, officially known as ‘utility’ or ‘committee’ vehicles.

Investigations showed that owing to paucity of funds, the lawmakers agreed with Peugeot to spread the payment of the N3.6bn across 24 months or “two years’ budget.”

The PUNCH gathered that the original plan was to start the delivery of the cars last June, but the delay in the passage of the 2016 budget stalled it.

“The House was not sure of the provisions in the budget owing to the general drop in the revenue available to the Federal Government this year.

“So, they delayed it till the budget was passed before they continued with the procurement processing.”

It was learnt that a lengthy disagreement among lawmakers preceded the choice of the Peugeot 508 series.

Investigations revealed that while the majority of the new members preferred the 2016 Toyota Camry, others argued in favour of Peugeot 508 on the grounds of patronising ‘Made-in-Nigeria products’.

“Eventually, the argument was sustained that Peugeot should be the choice to encourage local automotive industry; though it would also appear that there was a comparative cost analysis,” another legislative source added.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, confirmed that members had started taking delivery of the vehicles.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, Namdas stated that female lawmakers were the first in line to pick up their units, while the males would take their turn in subsequent batches.

Asked why the House would splash money on 360 exotic cars at a time the country was in recession, Namdas played down any reference to the cars as being “luxury.”

He said, “This issue of cars is long overdue. They are not for luxury but for committee and oversight duties.

“The 8th Assembly is nearing two years, yet members have no cars to carry out their duties.

“Ministers and other officials in the executive have long bought vehicles for official duties.

“At the state level, members of House of Assembly have cars to carry out basic functions.

“I think it is only fair that members of the National Assembly will have utility vehicles for their assignments.”

Namdas also told The PUNCH that the choice of Peugeot 508 was to “look inward such that Peugeot, which is locally-assembled, will benefit and grow.”

On paper, the cars are the property of the National Assembly, but the tradition over time is that lawmakers take them along with them on completion of their tenure after paying a fraction of the unit cost.

It was learnt that the management of the National Assembly would evaluate the cars after four years and deduct an agreed sum from the severance package of members.

Besides the utility vehicles, members also get a repayable loan to buy personal cars.

Buhari Moves To Stop Senate, House From Buying Over N4.7 Billion Exotic Cars

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President Muhammadu Buhari has frowned at plans by the National Assembly to buy over 400 new vehicles valued at over N4.7 Billion at a time the nation is facing cash crunch.

Mr. Buhari criticised the plan on Wednesday during his first televised Presidential Media chat, saying he had rejected a plan to buy new vehicles for him in the 2016 budget estimates.

“I turned down a N400 million bill for cars for the presidency, because the vehicles I am using are good enough for the next 10 years,” he said.

The president said he was having problems with the National Assembly because they were refusing to subject themselves to the new policy of a Treasury Single Account, TSA, and were planning plan to buy new vehicles.

“As for the National Assembly, we are having problems with them. I think everybody has to subject themselves to TSA as far as federal money is involved,” Mr. Buhari said.

When reminded that as the president, he might have the power to try to stop the purchase, Mr. Buhari said “I will explore that power to stop the expenditure of N50 billion for cars by the National Assembly.

“If I can turn down N400 million for the presidency that I do not need any new car because of the economy, I can’t see the National Assembly spending more that N47 billion to buy cars, on top of transport allowance they collect.

“I have to revisit that story. The budget for their transport allowance comes up to a N100 billion. With the kind of money that goes into the National Assembly, we have to look at it conscientiously and see how we can live within our means,” he said.

Credit: PremiumTimes