Northern Groups allege plot to sideline North

…Kick against relocation of CBN units, FAAN hqtrs to Lagos

…FG gives reasons for planned move

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has alleged a plot to marginalise and disrupt the progress of the Northern region of the country following moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to move some of its operations to Lagos.

The ACF, in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Prof Tukur Muhammad Baba stated that decades ago, the seat of the capital of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was moved from Lagos to Abuja for reasons that remain valid, and was constitutional even as of today.

According to the ACF, “The management of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), recently announced plans to relocate some of its key departments from Abuja to Lagos, understandably sparking a wave of anxiety and outcry from many Nigerians, especially Northerners who, obviously would be most adversely affected by the spontaneous exercise.

“The CBN’s decision is no means isolated or normal administrative action to fix some logistics problem. Rather, it fits into a disturbing pattern of antagonistic actions often taken by certain federal administrations against the interests of Northern and other parts of Nigeria.

“The CBN’s announcement was followed by another from the Federal Ministry of Aviation’s Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) plans to also relocate to Lagos, due to shortage of office space and claim of the volume of air traffic handled by Lagos. The proposed actions of the two agencies, i.e. CBN and FAAN are precipitous and mala fide. Still on the Ministry of Aviation, only 8 of 40 directors recently appointed are from the North!
“As if deliberately designed to be made public in drip-drip fashion, a leaked letter to the Minister of Aviation from a contractor, AVSATEL, became public, wherein the company sought permission to relocate the project for refurbishing Airport Rescue and FireFighting Vehicles (ARFF) from Katsina to ‘the south’ or Abuja, but sneakily mentioning Lagos, Ibadan or Enugu. AVSATEL sought to rationalise its suggestion on issues that should have been in the scope of the works when the company bided for the job but which it clearly ignored then.

“It is easy to ignore such planned actions by the CBN and FAAN (and AVSATEL), but it is impossible to fail to see in them a clear pattern of thinly disguised marginalisation of the North. Nor is the grand strategy entirely new. President Obasanjo’s first action in office in 1999, was to order the relocation of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), from Abuja, the federal capital, to Lagos. Today almost all agencies and institutions responsible for the marine economy and especially the sea ports, are concentrated at Lagos, which retains undisturbed monopoly over port operations and sea traffic in and out of Nigeria, even as Calabar, Uyo and Port Harcourt offer as much if not better facilities.

“When therefore the public condemns such obsession with relocation to Lagos, it is clearly reacting against a disturbing pattern of swindle perpetrated by some federal government officials against sections of the country.

“Northern Nigeria in particular has long lived under the shadow of these threats and has endured a series of calamities as a result. It was only the successful discovery and exploration of oil along the Kolmani River, in Gombe State, that discredited the propaganda that oil does not exist in the North.

“The vile propaganda was to discourage the investment of resources looking for oil up North. Sadly, such has also been the case with a number of other federal projects meant to be located anywhere in the North, such as dredging of rivers Niger and Benue (so that the North remains landlocked), Mambila Hydroelectric Dam (Kainji and Shiroro are dams too many to be up North!), grazing reserves for the development of the livestock sub-sector, to list but a few.

For decades, certain powerful interests within the Federal Government, who seem scared of the North, have refused to allow the projects to be undertaken.

“Given all of the above and more, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) remains unconvinced that the government agencies trying to relocate to Lagos will be doing so on any noble grounds. ACF calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria, and the National Assembly, to call on those agencies to retrace their steps and apply other honest means of addressing the alleged over-crowding in offices. Against the situation in Lagos, there is plenty of land in the Federal Capital Territory for expansion of office and other infrastructural facilities and such factors should not be used to obfuscate sinister motives.

“Katsina remains the location of the ARFF, as in the original scope of works. AVSATEL should not try to hoodwink the FGN with untenable drivels designed to shortchange the North.

“ACF wishes to remind all concerned that decades ago, the seat of the capital of the Federal Republic was moved from Lagos to Abuja for reasons that remain valid, it is constitutional even more so today, constitutionally so, although, of course, a section of the country never liked the decision.”

Similarly, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has opposed the plan by the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, to transfer some departments of the apex bank to Lagos.
The rights group said the decision was political and was reminiscent of the “notoriously petty politics” that go on in some states of the federation whereby governors newly elected and sworn-in, rapidly move state universities to their local government areas.
Besides, HURIWA argued that it makes no logical sense to say that the attempt to decongest the Abuja headquarters of the CBN was a reason for transferring departments of the CBN to Lagos.

It added that the same reason of over-congestion of the entire Lagos state was why the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was set up in the first place by law, which is subsisting and binding on all persons and authorities as Nigeria’s federal capital and seat of government.

The rights group in a statement by the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the decision by the new CBN chief was tantamount to disrespecting section 298 of the constitution of Nigeria which states unambiguously that the FCT shall be the capital of the federation and seat of government of the federation.

HURIWA argued that the enabling Act that set up the CBN prescribed the legal functions to include being the official banker of the government of the federation.

It argued that this emphatically means that the CBN must be domiciled wherever the seat of government is located by law, which for now is Abuja.

It described the reason given for the plan to move some departments to Lagos as puerile and laughable.
HURIWA accused Cardoso of executing ethnic agenda by attempting to move strategic departments of the CBN to his state of origin which is Lagos.

It wondered that if the erstwhile governor of CBN for almost a decade, Mr. Godwin Emefiele had moved some departments to Asaba, the Delta State capital, which is his state of origin, whether the Lagos-born CBN governor will still have other departments to move to Lagos as being contemplated.

HURIWA urged the CBN chief executive to perish what it said was a politically toxic plot because it would set a dangerous precedent.
The rights group said the new leadership of the CBN, by planning to move departments of the bank to Lagos was dragging the hand of the clock backwards in Nigeria.

It recalled that some staff members of the bank had reportedly resisted the transfer and claimed that it is motivated by tribal sentiment.

The group argued that all departments of CBN headquarters must be in Abuja while those staff already in the Lagos office should be instructed to handle assignments involving banks based in Lagos.
HURIWA said in a digital age, the CBN doesn’t have to physically locate staff in Lagos to carry out its task of regulating the banking sector.

On the other hand, unions in the aviation industry have expressed support for the plan of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, to relocate the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to Lagos, where it had existed for several years.

Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN), the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) in a joint statement expressed their support to the relocation plan and described it as a welcome development.

“The recent instructions for redeployment of staff relocated to Abuja is a welcome development. It could be recalled that the unions have on several occasions expressed our concerns over the hasty manner in which staff were relocated to Abuja when no adequate arrangement was made in the areas of office accommodation, infrastructure and other logistics for smooth relocation. Senior management staff were left stranded without an office and working tools while junior workers were helpless, with no provision for documents and working files and most worrisome absence of backup for data,” the statement said.

Explaining the reasons for the relocation of FAAN headquarters back to Lagos state, Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Social Media, Dada Olusegun said:
“First of all, FAAN Headquarters had always been in Lagos from inception until it was relocated to Abuja in 2020.
“Relocating FAAN Hq back to Lagos will put to use existing FAAN buildings and save costs on renting new office space in Abuja.

“Remaining in Abuja necessitated paying Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) to staff, as they were technically working out of their official station. This was seen as a waste of public funds and put pressure on limited resources.

“Over 60 percent of FAAN’s activities are centred in Lagos, making the city a more practical headquarters location.
“Despite the shift in headquarters back to Lagos, FAAN will maintain its full operational offices in Abuja without scaling down its activities.

“Until new offices are built in Abuja, FAAN will continue to use its old building in Lagos. The initial move from Lagos to Abuja was initially deemed ill-advised due to the absence of sufficient FAAN facilities in the capital,” he said.