The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ban the purchase of new cars for the Presidency and ministers.
It made the appeal in an open letter addressed to the President dated May 16 and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare.
The group asked President Buhari to use his leadership position to follow the ‘Namibia example’ by urgently issuing an executive order to prohibit the purchase of new cars till the end of his administration.
According to it, the savings from the ban should be used to support students of tertiary institutions across the country to reduce the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown on them and their parents.
It suggested that the funds should also be used to improve access to healthcare for all Nigerians, and that the National Assembly and governors should be encouraged to also ban the purchase of new cars and to use the savings to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements.
SERAP asked high-ranking public officials and politicians to demonstrate the constitutional oaths of absolute loyalty to the public interest and the common good, especially in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.