President Muhammadu Buhari has turned down an offer by the Federal
Government to buy 5 new armoured Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars for his
use, punch newspaper reports. The cars which cost is about N400m were planned to be purchased by
the State House.
A source close to the presidency told journalists on Thursday that
Buhari found out about the plan when the Permanent Secretary, State
House, Mr. Nebolisa Emodi, briefed him of his ministry’s activities on
Wednesday.
Angry at the revelation, the President was said to have told Emodi that
the purchase was unnecessary. Describing it as a waste of scarce
resources, the source said Buhari told the permanent secretary that the
cars he inherited from former President Goodluck Jonathan were good
enough for him.
“I don’t need any new cars. The ones I am using now are just fine,” the source quoted the President as saying.
Top government officials, however, said Buhari welcomed other
initiatives presented by the permanent secretary to reduce the operating
costs of the State House and strengthen its Finance and Accounts
Internal Control Mechanisms.
However he directed that more efforts be made towards the capture of all
State House expenses within the approved national budget, in order to
avoid the frequent recourse by past administrations to “Presidential
intervention funds.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity,
Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed that Buhari had withheld approval for the
purchase of the new cars. Shehu said the President would continue to use
the cars left behind by Jonathan in keeping with his commitment to
prudent management of national resources.
