The House of Representatives has defended its decision to buy exotic cars for its 360 members at a period the country’s economy is in recession. A total of 360 units of the exotic automobile would have been delivered by January 2017.
The Deputy Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Jonathan Gaz has this to say “In a recession, we will all put on our thinking caps. We are working; these are committees’ cars and they are not the personal property of members. When you came here today, how did you come? Did you walk down to this place (National Assembly) from your house?
“If a member is going to visit an agency, will he trek there? We need materials, computers, stationery, cars; these are all for work.”
He also declined to speak categorically on whether the government had begun making releases for the constituency projects of lawmakers.
The constituency projects of senators and members are worth N100bn in the 2016 budget of N6.06tn. The refusal of the government to fund the projects is reported to be one of the sore points in the relationship between Buhari and the National Assembly.
But, when asked a direct question on the issue, Gaza parried it. “We don’t release money for constituency projects. Our work is to pass the budget and we passed the 2016 budget. It is the responsibility of the executive to release funds for projects. Also, the money is not paid into our pockets, we don’t touch it,” he replied.
