Why Buhari can’t stop NASS vehicles, by Rep spokesman

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas (Adamawa-APC), has declared that the National Assembly would go ahead to buy the 469 vehicles for federal lawmakers.
To him, it was wrong for President Muhammadu Buhari to try and stop purchase of the vehicles because of downturn in the nation’s economy.
Namdas said in Abuja on Tuesday that the National Assembly had already concluded arrangements to procure vehicles for its operations this year, explaining that the 469 vehicles to be procured would aid effective performance of legislative duties, including oversight functions, by the legislators.
The plan by the National Assembly to procure the vehicles had elicited mixed reactions from Nigerians, including Buhari.
The legislator said that states’ Houses of Assembly often bought cars for official use.
“Governors buy vehicles for their commissioners and in most cases for their special advisers, for official use all over the country.
“Ministries buy vehicles for official use; ministers are given vehicles for their official use, ’’he said.
The lower chamber’s spokesman explained that the vehicles would be purchased through a loan scheme which would be liquidated over time and from the lawmakers’ severance allowances.
“In the case of NASS, we have not taken the car loan for now as it is being alleged, but even if we eventually take the loan, it is not a gift.
“It is a loan which will be deducted from our salaries, that is what people should understand. So, it is not free and the vehicles that NASS intends to buy for the committees are for official use.
“It is not fair for people to only hammer on vehicles that are to be procured by the National Assembly for official use.
“I think that if we are able to buy vehicles at a reasonable cost given the economic situation at the moment, we should be commended,’’ he said.
On what happens to the vehicles at the end of each legislative year, he said that they would be valued at the present cost and sold to interested members of the Assembly.
“Members are asked to pay if they are interested; that will be deducted from their severance allowance, but if a member is not interested, he returns the vehicle and his severance will be intact,’’ Namdas said.
He said that some members of the seventh National Assembly returned their vehicles at the end of the tenure, while others agreed to pay at the present cost and that the money was deducted from their severance allowance.