 Thanks for staying with us, right? So, Senator Sunday Karimi, APC Kogi, has stated that there is nothing wrong with the purchase of 360-spot utility vehicles for senators of the 10th National Assembly. And his justification was drawn from a comparative analysis of the costs of technical issues and durability on Nigerian roads. He claimed that they wanted something that could be maintained for another four years and explained that the members preferred the imported SUVs to the locally manufactured ones. Now reacting to the development at a news conference, Senator Sunday wondered why Nigerians are not talking about the ministers who ride about with four official vehicles. Nonetheless, the Deputy Director of the Social, Economic Rights and Accountability Project, that's Sarah Kolawele Oluwadari, disclosed the group's applications for interim and interlocutory injunctions following reports of the lawmakers' plans to procure and take delivery of SUVs valued at 57.6 billion Naira. And according to the report, each of these SUVs would cost taxpayers at least 160 million Naira. So tonight we're asking, do members of the National Assembly deserve executive cars? Now please, let's hear what you have to say, remember you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to read 1-803-4663. Okay, guys. Do they deserve executive cars? That's the question. I do have a problem with getting executive cars because ideally there are some jobs that, you know, like when you're promoted to a bank manager or stuff like that, when you're promoted to a higher position, some of these jobs comes with executive cars and, you know, all the perks that come with it. I do have a problem with the exoticness of it, if that's the word, given the state of the country and the fact that there is a local car manufacturer whose products are as good as any other brand, or super close to the brands that you call your preferred brands in the world. And so if you think that his brand is not good enough for you, pay him more so he can customize the vehicles to what you want. Why do you have to spend so much of taxpayers' money? And then upon that you're saying that the local brand, which the local brand here is, I mean, it's Innoson, we all know Innoson manufacturers in Nigeria. It's not good enough for you. And then you go around to make the statement about the roads that why you need such cars is because when you travel home that the roads are bad. Please talk. Like, I don't even know where to begin. Like, you're complaining about the roads. Who is it? Your job is to pass the bill. Your job is to raise up issues. Why are you there? To raise up issues surrounding the localities. And then table it and say, ah, this is what is going on. This is bill passes through you. Budget passes through you. Everything passes through you. And you come back and come and buy a car of 160 million each. I mean, how much? And you're telling me that the reason is because you don't want to travel home. If you travel home one time that your car... He has told me now that he wants a car that is durable that can last for the next four years. Which car? Four years in this Nigeria. A car that is durable. Don't be surprised that next year. Do you want to buy another one? My question becomes... Just like Sanzi said. You have a local manufacturer that has been established for a couple of years. And we currently use that local manufacturer in most governments. Like in Lagos states, they bought a lot of innocent motors. For police. For other agencies. Why can't the National Assembly use Nigeria maker? Yes. I would love to hear why and the reasons have to be cogent. Like it has to make sense. We are at a point in time in our country where a lot of things are happening. There's no money in the pockets. Right? There are bills outside. And the bills are growing every day on a daily. So when you see a news story like this you're not sure exactly how you feel about it and how to react. And the reason is we've gotten to that point where we have screamed and shouted. We're not happy about the current situations because this thing, if you want to shout about this it's like madness. We have bad rules. Nothing has been done about it. For years. We have the roads that they're working on. It has been stock. The projects have been on hold and have been stocked for years. Even in Lagos. And the roads have gotten worse. The other day let me give you a classic example about how bad we take our road construction. So you know the road behind I'm going to give you a specific example. You know the road behind Mobile. Victoria Island. Now, sorry, in front of Mobile Filling Station. Now that road has been bad for so long for a while. And instead of repairing the roads police went to create checkpoints there. So at night when you're trying and there are two checkpoints because people who take that road are trying to avoid the guys in front of four points. So they blocked those two entry points and they stay there and they taxing taxpayers. They tax taxpayers after we've paid them. They tax you. Now recently just two days ago I was on that road and I noticed that half of the road has been repaired. But there's another half that was not touched. Either it was not touched or it was so poorly done that the road has gotten spoiled again. So at the end of the day it has become a one way as usual. When you look at the road you see that half of it has actually been patched. So you're wondering to yourself or I'm wondering to myself what is the essence of this? How do you come to construct a whole road? You give a budget for the entire stretch because I trust my Nigerian people in power. They give a budget for the entire road stretch of the road which is from Gaza to a mobile to the junction of mobile getting into Ozumba. But they only repaired that patch and didn't even finish the patch. This is the same situation that is going on in different parts of Lagos and this is what we can see. We're not in Benin, we're not in all these other locations on the daily. We get new stories of this same thing happening in different roads. We get new stories of people begging for 100,000 Naira, 1 million Naira in order to put fences and to cover their broken walls in their schools like in Benin. So you have different situations. You have a lot of things happening in Nigeria and then you hear a case like this where between 2011 and 2013 the 53.7 billion Naira on cars and those cars are not transferred to the next set of people. Those cars become private properties because even when they go into government house they take the chairs in government house as private property. So how does this thing make sense and how do you tell the people how are you able to convince the people that this decision is a sensible decision and was not done by a crack head? You know I'm smiling because today I'm going to be chilled. Today is not for me to be so two things you mentioned you were being generous when you said when they put the budget from Goza to the junction. I tell you they can put the budget for the entire stretch of Hozumbam by the way and just do that small patch. I mean that's something that is common practice amongst government officials. So let me come back to history. I remember very clearly that there was a time in our country where it was Pujo cars because they had assembly lines here they were assembling the cars so every top government official even the military guys when you come out of the military as a new recruit it is a Pujo car that you are giving as your official vehicle and for that lingered for a very long time until we started getting spoils for choice now starting looking into importing the Mercedes and the other cars and all of that. Today it is so bad that we don't even want to look within where we are. Outside of Inosan Motors not I was I didn't even know that those cars were being assembled here in Nigeria in Unilac right in Unilac so they have gotten a partnership with Sterling Bank to even bring in electric cars where now it will no longer run on just fuel they use electricity to power some of the small ride hailing so that to make transportation cost cheaper even your what's called your dispatch riders they have another version for them then they have another version for cargo trucks right they don't three versions all electric powered now these are people that are working and they are seeing that there is a real need and because of the fuel situation in Nigeria we are having these challenges and we need to find solutions to make it easy for the citizens to leave. Nord is one GAC Motors just this week Lagos State Governor himself went to commission it and they are trying because Lagos State all the officials I see that they moved away from all they are very expensive and again this is not because even the cost of these cars are quite expensive when you compare them to these other cars if you go to them the CEO of Nord Motors I saw the price list the price point at least for this time it is fair the price point so when you go and you say that you want an SUV and you are calling the likes of the Prados and the Lexus and all of those things because this is what they try to do what you are just telling me is that I do not care even if you die it doesn't concern me because I must get what I want the kind of life that I want to live and then comparing yourself I mean don't forget that some of these senators most of these people in the National Assembly most of them are repeat customers they are repeat clients so people have been there since the inception of what is it called democracy they have been inside that house so don't forget that some of these people have been there they have been there for a very long time so it is this mindset that I feel like Nigeria is a port of whatever everybody just go dig and grab the portion of their own National Assembly that's what we see happening for all these things what makes politics look creative yes and this is what we are coming to so what we say to the National Assembly deserve exotic they don't even deserve a car as far as I am concerned they don't deserve an official car right these things are supposed to be in you are supposed to do it as a service to the people if the thing is not working for you resign and go and get a page job do you understand let's make it less lucrative because the truth is the country cannot afford this I agree no we are all suffering do you know that since Monday we have not had power we've not had light in the office since Monday we've been running on gen and this is not okay sometimes okay you will see that at least the light will not come during working hours when it's coming at night even overnight total blackout so a lot of people are spending money on fuel and all of that we still have you to be thinking let me tell you something right if we solve Nigeria's problems today there are not plenty do you understand if you fix the infrastructure fix power literally you can just go on cruising nobody will even ask you questions do you understand because it will just be on auto pilot all you are doing is maintenance but you see the fact that you continue to neglect what needs to be done you are only complicating and compounding the problem because it's never going to go away how can a senator have the audacity the infantry to come out and say that if I go to my village and I come back I spend money on repairing my car that means what you have just used your mouth to say that you people are not working because how do we continue to have bad roads year in, year out new dispensation or dispensation we continue to have the same roads the same roads the budget to fix this road are continuously reoccurring in the budget so what exactly are we doing are we jokers or what in this country I thought you said you were not going to get upset was I getting upset already let me open phone lines I am not talking there with us now if you just tune in the ladies night out and we are discussing do senators or the members of the national assembly deserve exotic cars let's hear what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an sms or what when you have people that put first of all they are very classist and very very elitist in their mindset this is what we see when you go to other parts of the world where they have functional I actually love the UK where they have functional rails and buses and all of that public transport everybody uses the train they use the buses and all of that and it's not a class thing and guess what what really upsets me is that these same members of the people that are governing us in this country go to these countries and use those public facilities they use the trains they use every single thing does it make sense to you that you look at it and say you know what don't we deserve something good like this for us in our country so even outside of all of these brands that I've mentioned the North the Inner Sun and the GAC there are small pockets of young people in the university I mean there was a guy in Ibadon that converted a which is part of what they are trying to promote now a what's it called a petrol car there was one that did to solar and there was one that did to gas if we had people that were really really keen on having something to be proud of like this is our national brand this is our pride and all of that shouldn't we have those kinds of people say you know what these funds that we want to use to go and import let us invest in these people that have come up with creative things I've always said this thing here that they say made in Ibadon made in Ibadon it is supposed to be our pride and our joy in this country not because of anything the fact that they are able to replicate things what are you supposed to do as a thinking government are you not supposed to provide so the problem we have is probably maybe the quality of what they the channel what are you supposed to do how can we find raw materials that will become quality so you hand it over to these guys and they replicate those things because sometimes what they need the reason why they produce low quality is because of funding so if I'm meant to get fabric so if I'm meant to get a proper leather and the leather is selling for maybe 2 million Naira and I know that what I can afford is 700,000 Naira obviously I'm going to go for the lower quality one because life has to go forward and I have to make my money however I'm still of the opinion that yes give them their what is it called exotic cars no not exotic cars give them the cars that comes with the office because I think honestly I like to be in a place where if it was me, if you put me in a position and there was a car or some pegs that comes with it I like it, I like good things but then my challenge and that's still what I'm saying is the fact that why do you have to go for super expensive brands given the state of the country you can go for a GAC SUV which is, I don't know last time I checked it was like 40 something or there about something million you can use that let me explain this thing you just said if they are ordering that much quantity of cars 316 there is a discount 360 cars is no joke technically when they order it directly from manufacturers and they say bring in these cars, they take out all the impurities they take out all those things the cars will come in very cheap but you see when you have a government that every single time it is an opportunity to make money, it's where I have a problem if we know we want to drink are we no problem, let us drink are we let's tighten our belt, when we finish this project we can now digest and everything when you talked about the car let me tell you something yes they can have cars but what I will say is but I think we have a caller what I will say is what I will wait for the caller is when I give you the car your official car I will deduct it from your salary so for that 4 years you will pay it off and then own the car do you understand? not the one that I will just buy you a car like this and 4 years you just come and that's what they are doing yes, that's what they are doing in the bank they give official cars no doubt but the people pay for it so people don't pay for it every 4 years if you want to change your car it's not a problem but you have paid off what was given to you before that is the sensible thing to do that's what I am saying that we need to take government like we are running a business because if I was running a business I would not give free cars it's not possible but let's take a call and good evening good evening good evening good evening love man good evening love man your life welcome to you next morning welcome to our another new number at this point in time if you pay, you can change your salary no money people will not do it well thank you very much thank you just like when we were speaking earlier about the wire thing so wire currently is at I think about 18,000 minimum wage is I think about 33 or something like that so you are giving the people and you wonder why things are happening to these people and I am not saying I don't know if you understand what I mean I don't think the thing is happening enough let's say Kama is on a break Kama is never on a break and you see the thing about it we are talking about how to Jam is about 4,000 all these things are the highest is wire which is about 18,000 there is no one that is up to 20,000 registration obviously if you want to make some recommendation you can say we are going to do this from this age to this age from this year to this year we might not pay everything but what is being asked for is just the 18,000 which is the registration fee and there are some people that will be able to afford it so the same way Femiata Dalla came out and tried to help some parents of alleviate these fees for university this is just for them to get into the university I just did a quick math for you 160 million Naira that's one of the cars would pay if we were benchmarking it at 18,000 it would pay about 8,088 students and that is more than half that is a sizable amount that is a sizable amount of students so imagine we multiplied this 8,888 multiplied by the 36 so do we have up to 100,000 or 500,000 students writing work every year so whatever it is it's not even 36 because they are buying 360 cars they are buying 360 cars so if you do the math it's a sizable number but you see when we don't prioritize what needs to be prioritized this is where we have landed so we don't prioritize education we wait you are complaining that young boys are killing people they will continue to kill because they want to drive those SUVs because again they've seen it that if I don't have money in this part of the world I will not first of all be respected but you know what we have another caller hello you're live good evening good evening you ladies are doing an amazing job thank you speaking about such a topic like this most people in Nigeria don't really about people in the national assembly state assembly the local government they all put the blame on the top executives the governors and the presidents and I believe the presidents and the top executives cannot do what they do without the national assemblies and the state assemblies they cannot accomplish what they are accomplished what are bad or good they cannot do that and no one is checking those people you know we don't even care who are the people that are even coming up to contest for those seeds no one is really bothered about that everyone just you know just that and the governor what happened to the council are coming up to and see what happened to the local government and all the state assemblies are they credible are they the people for the job because they are responsible for making sure that these people do their jobs the way they are supposed to do answering your question about do they need exotic cards if not if not if they question they do not yes they even need official cards but not exotic cards common it's ridiculous it's an inscrub to the common to the common insurance today that someone the national assembly is driving a car worth over 20 million and if he goes home it doesn't make sense as a leader 20 million okay thank you so much there's not a church in there it's not even close it's not even close we have a huge accountability accountability we have huge issues that's not accountability it's wickedness indifference in humanity that's the word the fact that an average Nigerian is probably somewhere praying and fasting and praying for money to buy an Uber which the average Uber car is about 3.0 million now it has gone up that's your dollars it's over 8 million that's typical Uber vehicle are you serious so cars are no longer cheap anymore hence the reason why they will go and get this they will rather bring in the Suzuki that has been abandoned in a whole lot of other countries it has been rejected in a whole lot of other countries especially even in South Africa it has been banned but it's a lot in Nigeria because this is a dumping ground and that's because we as the people we don't even care for ourselves we don't care for our neighbors so how is this our business when everybody is about money making I want to go back to that part where they talked about I will still maintain if you want to give them cars just like the way they do it in corporate organizations where you pay overtime first of all there would be a car that would be for your level then it would be overtime so if you want to buy anything more than that which is what I think they should do let's say for instance every budget for an official car is say 20 million for an official car if you say you want to buy a car of 180 million you will bring the remaining 160 million or we will give you the 20 million you go and add it and buy the car you want to buy when we start to do those kinds of policies you will see that things will change like literally it is actually very insensitive it's the height of insensitivity that these guys are actually displaying that you think that it is okay when somebody is hungry do you know that as I am like this in my what's it called sometimes I am afraid to do things not because I cannot afford to do them because I know the people around me do not really have I don't even want to do any form of show off or anything just to avoid unnecessary attention people are on the streets hungry so people don't even have the next meal to eat do you understand and yet you come out as a national assembly that you are supposed to be representing in the people you are representing the people and check meeting the executives you come out and you say that you want to have what billions of Naira that is the most insensitive and wicked thing to do but let's take a call you are live hello you are live abu you are live good evening we can hear you go ahead please I want to thank you guys for wonderful job thank you we are important by national assembly I want you to ask a question what about our police members the Labour Party the MPG whatever you do with justice people is trying for the people because society politicians we think to be all the same and I don't see that we need to do a lot to make this country better that's the question what about the MPG the issue of how long we can get there and it's been a long time that is the case who to look out the next time I don't think we can do something because if we look out the next time we can so I think we should check out please vote for most of these to get to the point let's take comments thank you Nigeria is like big elephant everyone comes to take his or our own part for himself, family and tribes is very unfortunate this is from Archie good evening ladies no no last member no last members don't deserve exotic cars but functional vehicles like buses to convey community members for oversight thank you if at all any last member craves exotic cars the last members can avail themselves of loans in the bank it's really inconsiderable that last members showing a lack of patriotism and sensitivity to the plight of the ordinary Nigerian at the time of unprecedented crushing economic challenges the senator justifying the luxury SUV sums up where we are in Nigeria if that's the quality of thinking from a supposed lawmaker who did we offend in Nigeria this is from me question this one says good evening my dear beautiful sisters of what are you saying do you members of the national assembly deserve exotic cars to me for now the answer is no and the capital no let them manage the ones they have for now according to my dear brother he said people are suffering people cannot afford three square meals and we are squandering money on exotic cars if to spend money is people let them invest it on hungry people and other important things in Nigeria like education, agriculture and other abandoned projects we cannot say because the money is too much and we spend the care we cannot say because the money is too much then we go on to spend it carelessly and ceaselessly this to me is wickedness and inhumanity then he goes on to ask about Noma Uti and Chinelo they are away for a little while it's been a while this is Daniel Iloh thank you Daniel so if at all the national assembly must buy luxury SUVs at a time like this with loans on Nigerian taxpayers why not procure locally and inject same funds into the automotive sector to boost jobs and productivity Americans love Japanese vehicles over American vehicles but you'll never see a brand vehicle same goes for UK, France or Germany these politicians obviously just got no clue their job descriptions or not ready to do it this is same for me someone says it's quite a shame that the Nigerian national assembly has finally succeeded in becoming the nation's number one enemy characterized by greed insensitivity and lack of compassion 54 billion Naira for lawmakers of a country whose national national government is unable to pay its citizens 30,000 Naira salary in a month super shame indeed Nii said something and that's so valid because like in the US government you would never see them driving a Toyota or all of this job what is this shame Chevrolet it tells a lot about your country so when we talk about this American dream and the fact that Americans believe that their country is the best there are certain things they do that just powered up that dream and so for Nigeria and the one that is for a long time we were crying there was nobody producing cars in Nigeria now a couple people about two or three of them have raced up their head to a certain level and instead of you to acknowledge this you are publicly speaking down on them that ah I don't need this one this is the one I need that their quality is below standard meanwhile you should put together you should have agencies that should ensure that they follow a certain guideline to make sure that their products that they produce in Nigeria are top quality rather than do that you are publicly shaming yourself and the office you stand with by actually going ahead to say that Nigerian made cars or the locally made cars are substandard I want to conclude this conversation in my head to say that we are actually our problem is deeply rooted in our lack of self-worth as a people because if you had some level of self-pride there are some things you would never be found in and you would say see even if it is 2K2K the Nigerian person is able to manufacture I will sit in it because I believe in Nigeria and you see this by Nigeria first it is not with mouth it is action we have to have full of legal government they are only the ones like so far and even though they rejected the they rejected no, no, no the one he is national he is commissioner they rejected the cars but it is well it is well it is well I just wish that Nigerians Nigerian leaders can actually see the potential in Nigeria and begin to really really tap into that potential we will get there someday thank you so much ladies thank you NJ before we go and show you follow us and hand us, listen to us on Spotify at Weshaw Africa you can join the conversation and interact with us please don't love the show alone share with your friends and family to watch and follow the conversation as well now if you missed our quote for today it is a very long one from our dear senator he says somebody that is a minister has more than 3 land cruisers paddles and other vehicles and you are not asking them questions why us? these vehicles that you see go to Nigerian road today if I go home once to my centaurial discreet I come back spending a lot of on my vehicles because our roads are bad if your road is bad it is not an SUV that will solve the problem fix your road see you guys tomorrow at 8pm as we bring another great conversation to your screen