Members of House of Representatives in Nigeria have started taking delivery of Toyota Camry 2020 model cars acquired as official cars, as coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the country and her economy.
Punch reports that some of the exotic purchased cars were already parked at different parking lots within the National Assembly Complex, as of Thursday, March 26, 2020.
Recall that the legislators had, at an executive (closed-door) session on February 5, 2020, resolved to purchase 400 units of the exotic cars.
While the House has, however, been mute on the cost of each unit, it was gathered that the contract for the supply was not awarded to accredited Toyota dealers. The House reportedly procured the V6 Limited Edition variant of the car.
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Chairman of the Committee on House Services, Wale Raji has reportedly confirmed the delivery of the cars.
The cars, which belong to the National Assembly, are usually auctioned to the lawmakers after four years.
A member of the House, who chose to remain anonymous, gave a breakdown of how the vehicles are being shared.
According to the lawmaker, the 400 saloon cars would be allocated to each of the 360 members and some top management staff, Chiefs of Staff to the (two) presiding officers as well as some of their special advisers and assistants.
“I was told 100 have already arrived and they are sharing them to new members who are not chairmen and deputy chairmen (of committees). The next batch will be for returning (ranking) members who are neither chairmen nor deputy chairmen. The last batch will go to ranking member with appointments,” the source was quoted as saying.
As earlier reported by Nairametrics, Nigeria recorded her first case of Coronavirus in late February 2020.
While there are 65 confirmed cases of the virus in the country already, two persons have been discharged after recovering, and six more are expected to be discharged anytime from now. Only one person has died from the contagious disease.
