* Justifies exotic vehicles for members
* Says Nigerian roads are bad
The Nigerian Senate has reacted to criticism by Nigerians over the purchase of 360 Sports Utility Vehicles for its members.
Speaking about the development at a news conference on Tuesday, the Chairman of the Committee on Senate Services, Sunday Karimi noted that Nigerians were picking on lawmakers but ignored ministers who got about four official vehicles.
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?
“These vehicles that you see, go to Nigeria roads today, If I go home once, my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad.
“I said the decision that we took on using Land Cruiser is the cost and durability.”
“Before they came up with this. It is not the decisions of the senators alone, we analysed arriving at Land Cruisers.
“It was based on a comparative analysis of the cost of technical issues and durability on Nigerian roads.
” We want something that we can maintain for another four years and the issue of buying vehicles from the National Assembly, you know it is a recurring issue, it occurs every assembly, it will always come up. “
The lawmaker explained that even at the state level, assembly members had access to official vehicles.
Karimi added, “If you got 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 the National Assembly?”
