Whereas some of the exotic cars delivered to the members of the House of Representatives have developed faults barely 90 days after the automobiles arrived in Abuja, a Non-governmental organization (NGO), Buy Nigeria Group (BNG), has said that “Innoson Motors would not have developed fault if the indigenous company was patronized by lawmakers”.
In a statement issued by the group in Lagos, BNG said “It amounts to national embarrassment to hear that imported jeeps for lawmakers developed faults less than six months after purchase”, saying “This is time to buy Nigerian made car and be proud of them”.
“We recall that Mali government was the first nation to order Innoson products for use in their country. Earlier this year, Malian government official visited Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) at Nnewi and order about 400 cars including jeeps and cars for use and since the shipment, there has been no complain, rather other African countries are coming to order while our lawmakers keep buying foreign cars.
Business Hilight learnt that majority of the lawmakers, 240 out of the total of 360, took delivery of the Peugeot 508 cars between June and July this year.
The cars, which lawmakers prefer to call “committee or utility vehicles,” belong to the National Assembly, though the members keep them in their homes.
Each unit costs N17m, which amounts to a total of N6.1bn for the 360 units for the 360 members.
But checks at IVM showed that none of the premium jeeps and exotic cars cost up to N17m, upon 12 months free service.
