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Senator representing the Kogi West Senatorial District in the 10th National Assembly, Sunday Karimi, has explained why federal lawmakers opted for foreign-made Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) instead of Nigerian-mad ones.
The Senator's explanation comes in the heat of criticism trailing the acquisition of the exotic vehicles by 109 members of the Senate and their colleagues in the House of Representatives.
Nigerians have continued to express anger over the development as the federal legislators set to take delivery of their car gifts reported to be worth ₦160m each.
Defending the decision on Channels Television's Politics Tonight on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, the senator said the lawmakers chose the Land Cruisers and Prados because of “quality and durability.”
“Today, we decided for Toyota because Toyota has a name and a longstanding name for quality and durability…As our local manufacturing companies develop, we are going to patronise them,” he said.
Karimi, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, stressed that the vehicles will aid the lawmakers in traversing their constituencies during oversight visits.
Providing further justification, the senator argued that purchasing utility vehicles isn't illegal as Nigerian roads are very bad.
“If you look at Nigerian roads all over the Federation, we have a serious problem because nothing much has been done in the last years. Most of our roads are terribly bad,” he said.
He, however, said, “In future, as Nigerian manufacturing sector develops, we will (patronise them).”