Julius Abure, National Chairman of the Labour Party, has criticized the N160m official vehicle being handed to each of the House of Representatives 360 members, encouraging MPs from the party to reject the vehicles due to the status of the nation.
While pushing his party’s lawmakers to refuse the gifts, Abure condemned the Speaker, Tajudeen Abass,’s move as “the height of insensitivity.”
The outcry follows news that members of the Senate and House of Representatives have begun getting a gift of a new 2023 SUV each.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, Abure stated that the Labour Party was disturbed and disappointed by the amount of insensitivity demonstrated by President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s executive and legislative arms.
Reacting to the development, Abure said, “We are calling on 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. The poor must be allowed to breathe again in this country.
“It is saddening that with deepening poverty among Nigerians the administration has decided to increase its appetite for a life of opulence to mock hardworking but underprivileged Nigerians. How else can any government justify the bloated Federal Executive Council of 48 cabinet ministers, with each of them given three luxury 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 who are being funded by the government.
“These vehicles will be costing Nigerians about N57.6 billion and this is happening at a time when the government claims it cannot afford to increase the minimum wage of N30,000 monthly to workers. As things stand today, inflation is likely to hit 30 per cent by December 2023, yet all they are concerned about is the comfort of a privileged few who found themselves in public office.
“Why spend so much money on the import of and purchase of vehicles from other nations amidst the scarcity of needed foreign exchange for manufacturing? Why not empower local manufacturers such as Innoson Motor in Anambra and Peugeot Automobiles in Kaduna to save forex and boost our local economy? When our Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, said we in the Labour Party want to move the economy from consumption to production, this is what we mean – Nigeria first.”
At the time of reporting this story, efforts to obtain confirmation from LP legislators that they would comply with the directive had been futile.
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