Senate denies buying 109 SUVs, says it only bought 36 SUVs at N36.5m each

The leadership of Nigeria's Senate has denied media reports that it recently took delivery of 109 SUVs, claiming that it only took delivery of 36 Land Cruiser XVR V8 at N36.5 million each.

In an interview with National Assembly correspondents yesterday April 19th, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Senate Services, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, said the reports of the senate spending N4 billion on cars was false and that senators unanimously rejected the proposed loan to purchase their vehicles.

According to him, each SUV will be used by the three senators representing each state.

“We had a close session and they agreed that we should give one car per state. We sat down and agreed on who among the three senators from each state needs the car most and that was what happened. We are supposed to buy 109 cars but because of our sensitivity to the lack of funds, we bought 36. There is no minister that hasn’t got three cars; there is no director that hasn’t got a Land Cruiser and there is no permanent secretary that hasn’t cars"he said

According to Gobir, the funding for the purchase of the 36 cars came from the 2015 budget.