The House of Representatives have taken delivery of 200 brand new exotic Peugeot 508 series cars, out of expected 360 expected.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, said that according to the plan of the House, all 360 lawmakers would have taken delivery of their cars by December 31.
Each vehicle costs N17m and will consume a total of N6.1bn to supply all 360 units.
Namdas said, “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 reported exclusively on July 1 that contracts for the automobiles had been awarded at the close of the year 2015.
Namdas continued that part of the problem was funding challenges.
He said, “You know that we have not started the implementation of the 2017 budget fully.”
“You will appreciate the fact that payment for these cars will come from the budget. So, that issue too is there.”
Lawmakers do take a salaries of between N690,000 and N1.1m monthly, depending on how much deductions are made from a member’s pay to settle debts and other facilities.
In addition, they receive a quarterly allocation of between N27.9m and N33m.
