Metro

Despite economic hardship, Nigerian Senate justifies purchase of N57.6bn SUVs for 469 members

Published

1 year ago

October 25, 2023

Despite the harsh economic situation in Nigeria and the hardship Nigerians have been thrown into as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly has justified the purchase of luxury Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for its 469 members at the cost of N160 million each, amounting to a whopping total of N57.6 billion.

With a majority of Nigerians condemning the purchase of the vehicles for 109 members of the Senate and 360 members of the House of Representatives at a time ordinary Nigerians are going through pains, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, Sunday Karimi, has said the decision of the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly to buy the luxury cars for lawmakers was because they want vehicles that will not only be durable on Nigerian roads but also be able to be maintained for the period of four years.

A civil society group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had last Friday approached a Federal High Court in Lagos seeking to stop the lawmakers from taking delivery of the SUVs pending the hearing and determination of the applications for injunction filed by the organisation.

However, Sen. Karimi has justified the planned purchase of luxury vehicles for lawmakers in spite of dissenting voices in the last few days.

While briefing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, the Senator, apparently speaking the minds of his colleagues, accused Nigerians of picking on lawmakers but ignoring ministers whom he said had “more than three Land Cruisers, Prado and other vehicles and questions are not asked.”

The senator expressed disappointment over the media frenzy which followed the exposure of details of the vehicle purchase deal which has become a quadrennial ritual.

He further described public attention on the utility vehicles of lawmakers as unfair because, according to him, the situation was worse at the executive level where ministers who were not elected rode in a convoy of several of such vehicles without a whimper from either the media or the public.

“Somebody that is a minister has more than three land cruisers, Prado and other vehicles and you are not asking them questions, why us?” he queried.

”If I go to my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad. Am I talking to somebody?

“I said the decision that we took on using land cruiser is … you know they have exchanged the price analysis and other sections, including cost and durability, are you getting me, before they came up with this?

“It is not the decisions of the senators alone, we did an analysis before arriving at the land cruiser. It was based on a comparative analysis of the cost of technical issues and durability on Nigerian roads, are you getting me?

“We want something we can maintain for another four years and the issue of buying vehicles from the National Assembly, you know is a recurring issue, it occurs in every assembly, it will always come up.

“If you go to state houses of assembly today, check out, most of them, before they were even inaugurated, the governor would have bought vehicles waiting for them, even local government chairmen. I drove the vehicle my local government chairman uses. So, why single out National Assembly?” he added.

Related Topics:Featured Nigeria Senate. House of Representatives SUVs

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Metro

Zambia: FOX report highlights persistent media harassment, calls for reforms

Published

8 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Isaac Dachen

A new Freedom of Expression (FOX) report by the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia, has raised concerns over what it describes as the continued harassment of media professionals in the country despite collective efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.

The FOX Report serves as a call to action for all stakeholders to create a safer and more enabling environment for the media to operate without fear or intimidation.

Chairperson of the MISA-Zambia Board, Lorraine Mwanza, who raised the concerns while launching the report on Tuesday at the Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka, highlighted that journalists and media practitioners in the country still faced intimidation, censorship, and violence for fulfilling their role of informing the public.

“The harassment of media professionals is a stark reminder of the threats posed to democratic values and the fundamental rights to seek, receive, and impart information without fear or hindrance,” Mwanza said.

She expressed solidarity with those who are targets of attack, and reaffirmed MISA’s commitment to defending journalists’ rights and protecting the integrity of the profession.

Mwanza further called on the government to address barriers preventing journalists from accessing public officials, emphasizing that public officials were custodians of critical information necessary for informed decision-making.

“When citizens have access to government data, they can better understand policies, monitor public spending, and advocate for change in their communities,” Mwanza noted.

She also appealed for the review and repeal of laws that undermine democracy, stressing the importance of enacting legislation that guarantees media freedom, freedom of expression, and digital rights, and commended the government for responding to calls from civil society organizations to withdraw the controversial Cyber Bills from Parliament.

Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary, Thabo Kawana, in a speech read by Ministry Director Mordern Mayembe, reaffirmed government’s commitment to upholding media freedom and freedom of expression in Zambia.

Metro

Nigeria: 614,937 killed, 2.2m abducted in 1 year— Report

Published

17 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Isaac Dachen

A new report released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that over 614,937 Nigerians were killed and 2,235,954 others kidnapped across the country in one year between May 2023 and April 2024.

The NBS report, titled, “The Crime Experienced and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) 2024”, says based on the surveys conducted between May 2023 and April 2024, the 2.2 million Nigerians who were kidnapped across the country paid a whopping N2.2 trillion as ransom, with an average amount of N2.7 million per incident.

The report also disclosed that murder rate was highest in rural areas with 335,827 incidents and 279,110 in urban areas.

A zone-by-zone analysis of the report showed that the North-West had the highest murder cases of 206,030, followed by the North-East which stood at 188,992, while the least was recorded in the South-West at 15,693.

The report also revealed about seven in 10 households reported murder cases to the police nationwide with 33 per cent of households responding that the killer was an unknown person, and 23.4 per cent confirmed that the murderer was a member of the household; while 1.0 per cent reported that the murderer was either a spouse or a lover.

The report said 1,668,104 persons were kidnapped in rural areas and 567,850 in urban areas with the North-West having the highest cases of kidnapping with 1,420,307 abducted, followed by the North-Central with 317,837 and the South-East at 110,432.

“Of the estimated amount of N2.2 trillion payments to free victims, the North-West reported the highest ransom paid with N1.2 trillion; while the South-East was the least with N85.4 billion.

“Disaggregated by zones, the North-Central reported the highest proportion of payment of ransom at 83.4 per cent, followed by North-East at 78.6 per cent.

“Households in urban areas paid an average of N3.7 million compared to N2.3 million in rural areas,” the report stated.

It added that about 91 per cent of kidnapping incidents were done for ransom in the form of money, goods or other benefits.

“While 2.4 per cent of cases were attributed to political, criminal, or terrorist objectives; 2.1 per cent were linked to personal or family disputes. Custody disputes accounted for 0.5 per cent of cases,” the report said.