he Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West), has dismissed public outcry over the purchase of Prado Landcruiser Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for 469 federal lawmakers as misplaced.“
He expressed disappointment over the media frenzy, which followed the exposure of details of the vehicle purchase deal which has become a quadrennial ritual.
Karimi, who stated this during an interview with journalists after Senate plenary in Abuja yesterday, explained that the Senate took cognizance of a lot of factors, including cost effectiveness, durability and the poor state of most Nigerian roads, before settling for the SUVs.
He also described public attention on the utility vehicles of lawmakers as unfair because the situation was worse at the executive level where ministers who weren’t elected rode in a convoy of several of such vehicles without a whimper from either the media or the public.“Karimi said: “Somebody that is a minister has more than three land cruisers, Prado and other vehicles and you are not asking them questions, why us?
”If I go to my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad. Am I talking to somebody?““I said the decision that we took on using land cruiser is … you know they have exchanged the price analysis and other sections, including cost and durability, are you getting me, before they came up with this?
“It is not the decisions of the senators alone, we did an analysis before arriving at the land cruiser. It was based on a comparative analysis of the cost of technical issues and durability on Nigerian roads, are you getting me?.
“We want something we can maintain for another four years and the issue of buying vehicles from the national assembly, you know is a recurring issue, it occurs in every assembly, it will always come up.
“If you go to state houses of assembly today, check out, most of them, before they were even inaugurated, the governor would have bought vehicles waiting for them, even local government chairmen. I drove the vehicle my local government chairman uses. So, why single out National Assembly?
“On the cost of the vehicles, he said: “Let me tell you, hello, listen to me, you know I am the chairman service, when I came into the Senate, they gave me a liability of over N16 billion, made up of different things, including vehicles of 7th assembly, 8th and 9th assemblies.
