THE Federal Government will go ahead with the plan to relocate the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria – FAAN from Abuja to Lagos, despite the controversy surrounding the decision.
A group of Nigerians including chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum – ACF, Northern Elders Forum – NEF, and other northern groups had kicked against the moves.
Speaking on behalf of the Federal Government on Wednesday however, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo declared that there is no going back on the decision.
“We are going ahead. The directive has been given”, Keyamo said on Channels TV programme, Politics Today.
Keyamo said the issue was compounded with the fact that FAAN is not yet digitised, adding that, “you see them flying every day to and fro 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. N450 million on flight tickets alone,” he also said.
According to those that are against the plan, the relocation of FAAN headquarters and some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to Lagos was an attempt to marginalise the north.
