Sometime last year, a member of the House of Representatives openly boasted that he had expended over N100 million acquiring cars since he was elected into the House. The 35 year old member from one of the states in the North Central zone of the country was then barely a year in the House.
But the lawmaker is not alone in the business of acquiring cars. His colleagues in the House and even the Senate have formed the habit of acquiring choice cars running into millions of naira.
A visitor to the National Assembly car parks will think they are car dealerships as the latest model of cars such as Chrysler, Mazda, Toyota Prado SUVs, Toyota Lexus, Jaguar, Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Lincoln Navigator, Range Rover, Hummer, Nissan Altima and Ford Explorer, Peugeot, and Honda amongst others can be found there.
The list is, indeed, endless.
While some members of the House cruise in exotic cars, others chose to ride in the controversial Peugeot 407 cars bought for committee oversight duties. Each of the Peugeot 407 cars was reportedly acquired for N6.1 million. The cars carry the official number plates of MHR (Member of the House of Representatives) or FL REP.
The manner of acquisition of the cars was investigated by the Ethics and Privileges Committee of the House, which submitted its report last week. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Others Related Offences Commission are still investigating the matter.
In the upper legislative chamber, a number of senators still ride in their Toyota Camry, which was also purchased for them to use in the execution of committee duties. The cars have special number plates FL SENATOR. The other cars bear “SENATOR”.
But some of the legislators do not bother to ride in the Peugeot cars, they prefer the exotic ones. For instance, Bukar Abba Ibrahim (the former governor of Yobe State) and Chimaroke Nnamani (former governor of Enugu State) ride in SUVs. The same goes for some of their other colleagues who were governors or ministers.
However, the four presiding officers, namely the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker still have Peugeot 607 and 407 Cars in their convoys though they ride in Mercedes Benz cars.
At the turn of democracy in 1999, the federal lawmakers were each given a 406 Peugeot car. But the policy to allocate cars to the 469 lawmakers changed in 2003 when former President, Olusegun Obasanjo introduced the monetisation policy.
With the policy in place, the legislators began to buy preferred choice cars for themselves.
Some of them do it in style as they go for customised number plates. For instance, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Dino Melaye has special number plates that bear the inscription “DINO”.
All his cars have special number plates with different figures. This is the same with Iorwase Herman Hembe, a legislator from Benue and vice chairman of the House Committee on Donor Agencies. His cars have “HEMBE” inscribed on their number plates.
There are many more others. But some of the principal officers in both chambers chose to have special number plates according to their ranking on the leadership ladder.
Interestingly, the money spent to acquire these vehicles can build skill acquisition centres for the unemployed in their constituencies.
Only last week, senators complained of extensive poverty in the land and consequently adopted a motion to investigate The National Poverty Eradication Programme.