LP urges its lawmakers to reject N57.6bn vehicles for National Assembly members

The Labour Party has condemned the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration to buy vehicles worth about N160 million each for 360 members of the National Assembly and urged its legislators to oppose the move.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure, said the move was “shocking, saddening and disappointing” and showed the “level of insensitivity” of the executive and the legislative arms of the government led by President Bola Tinubu.

Abure accused the APC of increasing its appetite for a life of opulence to mock hardworking but underprivileged Nigerians. He said the government had already wasted taxpayers’ money on providing three luxurious vehicles for each of the 48 cabinet ministers and their numerous aides on the first day in office.

He said the government was spending N57.6 billion on vehicles for lawmakers at a time when it claimed it could not afford to increase the minimum wage of N30,000 monthly to workers. He also lamented the high cost of living, saying that a bag of 50 kg rice was now N50,000 and most families could not afford two square meals a day.

“How else can any Government justify the bloated Federal Executive Council of 48 cabinet ministers, with each of them given three luxurious four-wheel drive vehicles on the first day in office, paid for and fueled by taxpayers? This is notwithstanding hundreds of presidential and ministerial aides, as well as numerous aides to the aides which are being funded by the government,” he said in the statement.

He questioned why the government was importing vehicles from other countries instead of empowering local manufacturers such as Innoson Motor in Anambra and Peugeot Automobiles in Kaduna to save foreign exchange and boost the local economy.

He said the Labour Party wanted to move the economy from consumption to production and put Nigeria first. He urged the government to retrace its step and give priority to revamping the economy instead of its current obsession with luxury living.

He also called on the Labour Party legislators in the 10th Assembly to kick against the unnecessary wastage of resources and live up to the ideology of the party which is social justice and equal opportunity for all.

“We are also calling on the Labour Party legislators in the 10th Assembly to kick against this unnecessary wastage of resources in line with the ideology of the party which is social justice and equal opportunity for all. Nigerians will hold them responsible if they fail to live above board or give proper account of the electoral investment reposed in them,” he said.

He said Nigerians were fed up with the status quo and craved for a different leadership that would factor in the interest of the suffering masses.