In a statement released on Sunday evening, Spokesperson for the House of Assembly Rotimi Akin confirmed that NASS had purchased 109 Toyota Land Cruisers for senators and 2023 Toyota Prado for 360 members of the House of Representatives.
On Tuesday, Ezekwesili knocked NASS leadership regarding the purchase and tagged other members of the Assembly “heartless” for refusing to speak against the expensive procurement.
“You all had the audacity to spend scarce public resources on luxury cars at a time majority of your citizens cannot feed, transport themselves, pay school fees and hospital bills due to cost of living crisis?,” she wrote via her Twitter page.
“At this stage, it is evident you want to continue with your serial bad behavior. Since not even 1 of you fellows @nassnigeria @HouseNGR @NGRSenate saw the heartlessness of that decision to buy 360 new Toyota SUVs for yourselves at this time of severe economic distress of the citizens and country, please know that you all are the biggest threat to our Democracy.”
The former minister also warned the lawmakers that their actions will result in citizens collectively rising up to collectively chase “irresponsible and insensitive people out of office”.
Responding to critics accusing her of also purchasing cars while in office, Ezekwesili stated that she never bought any vehicle for her personal use while she headed the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Mineral Resources.
“Please find the Perm-Sec – Dr. Aboki Zawa – who worked with me in both Ministries of Minerals and Education respectively and ask him that question. I did not buy any car for my use at both ministries. What for? I simply asked the Perm-Sec to repair any vehicle that was left behind by my predecessors for my use,” she explained.
The expensive purchase by NASS has drawn the ire of many Nigerians who are currently battling several economic hardships, including an all-time high inflation.
On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics disclosed that Nigeria’s inflation rate has climbed to 26.72 per cent, marking a 0.92 per cent increase from the previous month’s 25.80 per cent
