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Tinubu’s government speaks on plan to relocate FCT to Lagos

Published

11 months ago

January 25, 2024

The Presidency has said the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration was not planning to relocate the Federal Capital of Nigeria back to Lagos, its previous location.

The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, stated this in a statement via his official X handle on Wednesday.

This followed the Federal Government’s recent decision to relocate the Department of Banking Supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria to Lagos and the directive of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to relocate the head office of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria back to Lagos.

“We consider it necessary to inform Nigerians that there is no iota of truth in the interpretations given to the directives in some quarters and the unfounded claims and rumours that President Bola Tinubu is planning to relocate the Federal Capital back to Lagos,” the statement read.

“These rumours, which first surfaced during the electioneering last year, were sponsored by political opponents looking for all manners of weapons to prevent Asiwaju Tinubu from being elected as president by a section of the country.”

According to Onanuga, those peddling rumour are dishonest, ethnic and regional champions, trying to draw attention to themselves.

He claimed that those pushing the campaign of falsehood know they are playing politics, albeit dangerous politics to pitch the North against the South.

Onanuga said Abuja has come to stay as it is backed by law.

“The movement of FAAN, a department of the Aviation Ministry to Lagos, where it was based before former minister Hadi Sirika moved it to Abuja during the last administration, does not amount to moving the FCT to Lagos.

“The administrative move should have attracted scant attention, as Lagos is the commercial capital and the hub of aviation business in Nigeria. FAAN should be nowhere else but near the industry it regulates. FAAN will still maintain some presence in Abuja, as it is not a wholesale movement,” Onanuga stated.

Meanwhile, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Yekini Nabena, has asked President Tinubu to approve the relocation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to the Niger Delta region.

He also urged Tinubu to move the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to Benue State where agricultural produce is in abundance to justify the plot to move parts of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) out of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The federal government had indicated interest to move part of CBN and FAAN to Lagos State for efficiency of its activities. The development has however generated a lot of debates in support and against, especially by the Northern elite and leaders.

Nabena, who suspected evil intentions for making such moves, said President Bola Tinubu did not believe in one Nigeria before he emerged the President.

The APC chieftain in a statement released in Abuja on Wednesday insisted that federal agencies are symbols of Nigerian unity and should not be toyed with.

While referring to an interview Tinubu granted and published in April 11, 1997, titled ‘I don’t believe in one Nigeria – Tinubu’, he said the presidency must come out clear on the real reasons for relocation of the two affected agencies and not the flimsy excuses given so far.

Nabena said: “If efficiency of these agencies is the main reason for plan to relocate them to Lagos State, we from the Niger Delta are also asking that the NNPCL, NIMASA, NPA and others will be more effective in either Bayelsa, Rivers or Delta states. In the same way, Federal Ministry of Mine and Steel should be moved to Kogi state where we have the Ajaokuta Steel for efficiency.