Senator Replies Nigerians, ‘It’s Insulting To Say Lawmakers Don’t Deserve SUVs’

The Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, has knocked Nigerians for saying Senators do not deserve new Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs).  

The rebuke came after Nigerians criticized the allocation of N5,550 billion for the purchase of the vehicle popularly referred to as ‘jeep’ in the country.

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The senator, in a sharp reaction, said senators deserve SUVs and it is an insult to say otherwise. 

The lawmaker explained that each of the 109 senators in the upper chamber would get one SUV, which would be paid for at the end of their four-year legislative tenure.

He said, “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 N5.5bn is from the National Assembly fund and it is budgeted for every year, which they will pay back at the end of the tenure.

“I was a permanent secretary. I know what ministers get; we cannot even compare ourselves to ministers because we are higher than the minister(s). For you to say that a senator of the Federal Republic cannot drive a jeep today — come on, that is an insult.  

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“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. The collapse of the local government areas across the country had placed a burden on senators who “carry loads outside their purview,” he said.

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