Follow Us on Google
…Expert tackles FG, says directive wrong-headed
By Chinelo Obogo, [email protected]
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has ordered that the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) be relocated from Abuja to Lagos.
This comes three years after his predecessor, Hadi Sirika moved the headquarters to Abuja, citing administrative convenience and need to remodel the FAAN headquarters and other agencies.
Keyamo’s order was contained in a memo dated January 15, 2024 and signed by the Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku which read: “The Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development has directed that the Headquarters of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) should be relocated from Abuja to Lagos. Consequent upon the above, you are requested to provide the implication of the relocation to the management.”
Tongues are already wagging as the cost of the movement and the enormous logistics involved.
Speaking to Daily Sun on the matter, an aviation security expert, John Ojikutu, said the reason and cost of the relocation should be revealed, wondering what the economic or administrative sense is in moving the FAAN headquarters back to Lagos.
“First, it was the renovation of MMIA Terminal E, next was his idea to renovate some airports, another was the second runway for Abuja and now the re-relocation of FAAN to Lagos. I ask, when was the headquarters relocated to Abuja? It was just in 2020, three years ago. What was the cost of the relocation? What was the reason for the relocation? What is the reason again today for the relocation of FAAN?
“We are just not ready to believe in ourselves, not even in the gospel songs of hope by the new administration when the disciples are reading the Old Testament. I just heard this afternoon about the plan for aviation bank, soon we shall have maritime bank, oil and gas bank, FIRS bank, etc. That doesn’t solve the problem of accountability on the forex earnings from the commercial services on aviation.
“I ask again, what is the economic or administrative sense in moving the FAAN headquarters back to Lagos. The decision to locate or relocate the headquarters of any of the statutory agencies should be that of the management board and not the minister or the ministry. We were at the edge of the cliff of the mountain at the time Hadi Sirika left and what I am seeing happening soon may get us into the valley of the dead. Keyamo should leave the agencies to work in accordance with the provisions of the Acts that set them up,” he said.
