The Presidency has dismissed insinuations that President Bola Tinubu has the intention to move Nigeria’s capital from Abuja to Lagos.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the clarification on Wednesday, in response to the controversy over moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to relocate their departments from Abuja to Lagos.
He wrote: “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.
“Similarly, the movement of some departments of the CBN to Lagos should not trigger any hoopla. The departments concerned, including the bank supervision department, are those dealing with commercial banks, all with headquarters in Lagos. A regulator ought to be close to the businesses it regulates.
“There are many parastatals that are not based in Abuja, depending on their mandate. NIMASA is in Lagos. So is NPA. The National Inland Waterways Authority( NIWA) is in Lokoja, not Abuja. Will the people opposing the movement of FAAN and some CBN departments want those agencies to be in Abuja, where there is no single port and no maritime activity?”
