Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has announced that the relocation of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos is definite and will proceed as planned.
Keyamo made this statement during an interview on ChannelsTV on Wednesday evening, emphasizing that the directive to relocate has already been given and there is no turning back.
“We are going ahead. The directive has been given,” Keyamo declared.
Allub Times reports that the decision to move FAAN headquarters and certain departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from Abuja to Lagos has sparked mixed reactions.
Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South, along with leaders of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), and other northern groups, have expressed their opposition to the actions taken by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), suggesting that it is an effort to marginalize the northern region.
However, Keyamo has stated that relocating the headquarters of FAAN to Lagos is necessary in order to align with current economic and operational circumstances.
The minister has also mentioned that this move will result in savings of at least N500 million on flight tickets for officials.
The minister stated that top officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and aviation unions approached him with a request to relocate the authority’s head office to Lagos in order to improve operational efficiency.
He clarified that this decision falls under the jurisdiction of the minister and does not require the approval of President Bola Tinubu.
The minister further explained that only the headquarters of one out of the seven aviation agencies in the country will be moved from Abuja to Lagos.
Keyamo also mentioned that when his predecessor, Hadi Sirika, relocated the headquarters of all aviation agencies from Lagos to Abuja in 2020, there was a lack of adequate provisions for the principal officers, such as directors and their respective departments.
He explained that the headquarters is the place where the people who make decisions gather, not where the most workers are or where the largest building is located.
He stated that out of the 132 workers at the head office, more than 100 are in Lagos, while only the directors are in Abuja, without their support staff.
Keyamo mentioned that the situation is further complicated by the fact that FAAN has not yet been digitalized. As a result, they spent half a billion naira on flight tickets between Lagos and Abuja alone in one year.
“You see them flying every day to and from Abuja to get one file signed. They fly every day back and forth. In one year, they spent close to half a billion naira on flight tickets. N450m on flight tickets alone,” he said.
