Reps confirm plan to buy Peugeot 508 for members

Leadership of the House of Representatives on Thursday confirmed plan to purchase of Peugeot 508 for each of the 360 members.

BusinessDay gathered that each of the cars was to be procured at the sum of N9 million against the N16 million Camry initially demanded by members.

Abdulrazak Namdas, chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, gave the hint at the weekly press briefing held at the National Assembly complex, Abuja.

He said “‎every member of the National Assembly belongs to not less than seven committees, so the mere fact that we have 96 committees does not mean 96 vehicles will be purchased.

“We cannot use one vehicle to cater for these because you belong to seven other committees and as members of the National Assembly we are supposed to be given the opportunity just to use one car to go to over sight function, there is nothing wrong in that.

“Probably, Peugeot 508, which is tabled for discussion which has not been agreed upon, not Prado as it is being postulated.”

It was however unclear whether the money for the procurement of the Peugeot 508 was captured in the budget proposal for the House.

It would be recalled that the sum of N4.7 billion was to be spent by the Senate for procurement of vehicles for the 109 senators.

While reacting to questions on President Muhammadu Buhari’s stance on the purchase of the vehicles, the House spokesman expressed the readiness of the leadership of the House to interface with the Presidency on the issue.