Members of the House of Representatives have begun receiving Toyota Camry 2020 model cars as official cars amid the coronavirus pandemic spreading in the country.
Some of the cars were parked at the National Assembly Complex on Thursday, Punchng.com reports.
The newspaper said the lawmakers purchased the V6 Limited Edition variant of the car and have not revealed the cost of each unit, adding that it found that the contract was not awarded to accredited Toyota dealers.
It said the chairman of the Committee on House Services, Wale Raji, confirmed delivery of the cars but declined to respond to further enquiries.
Plans were finalised on February 5, 2020, to buy 400 units of the exotic car.
A member of the House who did not want to be named told the paper that 400 saloon cars would be allocated to each of the 360 members and some top management staff, chiefs of staff to the two presiding officers as well as some of their special advisers and assistants.
“I was told 100 have already arrived and they are sharing them to new members who are not chairmen and deputy chairmen (of committees),” the source was quoted saying.
“The next batch will be for returning (ranking) members who are neither chairmen nor deputy chairmen. The last batch will go to ranking member with appointments.”
According to Toyota’s website, the vehicles could cost as much as $25,000 to $35,000, excluding shipping cost and custom duties, which is about 100 per cent of the actual cost of each unit.
Presiding, principal officers and chairmen of select House committees have already been handed about 14 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado sports utility vehicles.
