SERAP queries N110bn Bulletproof Cars Plans for Akpabio, Abbas
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project on Sunday warned the Senate President, Mr. Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas against what it called “scandalous plan to spend N40bn on 465 exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials.
The plans also includes N70bn to be spent as palliatives for new members.
In the letter dated 15 July, 2023 which was signed by SERAP’s deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, and made available to journalists on Sunday, the organisation said “This travesty, and apparent conflicts of interest and self-dealing by members of the National Assembly must stop.”
SERAP said, “It a fundamental breach of their fiduciary duties for members of the National Assembly to arbitrarily increase their own budget and to use the budget as a tool to satisfy the lifestyle of lawmakers.”
SERAP urged them to “repeal the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act to reduce the budget for the National Assembly by N110bn, reflect the current economic realities in the country and address the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy on the over 137 million poor Nigerians.”
SERAP also urged them to “request President Bola Tinubu to present a fresh supplementary appropriation bill, to redirect the N110 billion to address the situation of the over 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, for the approval of the National Assembly.”
According to reports, “While N70 billion ‘support allowance’ is budgeted for 306 new lawmakers, only N500 billion worth of palliatives is budgeted for 12 million poor Nigerians. N40 billion is also allocated to buy 465 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials.”
