Ndume Defends Purchase Of SUVs For NASS Members, Says It’s Not A New Thing

The controversy surrounding the purchase of N160m Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for each member of the National Assembly has refused to die down as Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South has become the latest Senator to defend the development saying such a move is not a new thing.

It would be recalled that members of the National Assembly had drawn flak recently when news filtered in that each of the 469 lawmakers would be getting an SUV valued at N160m.

But Ndume believes the development is not new, saying that public servants have always had official vehicles.

“Buying vehicles for public or civil servants is not a new thing. It is only as you, said, ‘What are the implications? What is the cost and what are the alternatives?” Ndume, who spoke on Channels Television’s current affairs show Sunday Politics, said.

While he concurs that the public has a right to question the purchase of the vehicles especially given Nigeria’s current post-petrol subsidy era, the senator said the cars are needed for official work.

“But for me, I come to serve and in serving the people, my major constitutional rule is oversight and making laws,” Ndume added.

“If I have to do that effectively, then I need a vehicle that would enable me to do that effectively.  That is what I think is the idea behind buying the vehicles.”

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“But it is not new that public servants, especially in the rank of ministers, and heads of parastatals get vehicles,” he said.

Senator Ndume, however, said over the years, the cost of buying such vehicles has continued to rise.