The Nigerian Senate has stated why its members deserve brand new Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).
Public outcry recently greeted a planned purchase of brand new SUVs for Senators which will amount to about N5.5billion.
Reacting to the condemnation, the leader of the Nigerian Senate, Yahaya Abdullahi, said it is an insult to opined that lawmakers at the upper legislative chamber do not deserve brand new SUVs.
Mr Abdullahi said they deserve the automobile because the duties of lawmakers are much more than that of ministers whom he assumed are getting similar benefits.
“What is the problem there? It is an insult to say that a senator of the Federal Republic cannot ride a jeep in Nigeria. It is an insult,” the Senate leader told reporters in his office Wednesday.
“The N5.5 billion is from the National Assembly fund and it is budgeted for every year, which they will pay back at the end of their tenure.
“I was a permanent secretary. I know what ministers get. We cannot even compare ourselves with ministers because we are higher than a minister.
“For you to say that a senator of the Federal Republic cannot drive a jeep today, come on, that is an insult.
“Go and tell the people that the work that we do is more than the work of ministers. The weight that is on me today, there is no minister of the Federal Republic that has it,” he added.
