Presidency speaks on relocation of FAAN HQ, CBN depts to Lagos

The Presidency has spoken about the planned relocation of some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos State.

The CBN recently announced the relocation of some of its departments from Abuja to Lagos.

Some of the CBN departments targeted for relocation are the Banking Supervision, Other Financial Institutions Supervision, Consumer Protection Department, Payment System Management Department, and Financial Policy Regulations Department.

The FAAN also announced the relocation of its headquarters from the nation’s capital to Lagos.

Speaking on the development, the Presidency, in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, said the relocation of the offices from Abuja to Lagos does not amount to moving the Federal Capital to Lagos.

Onanuga stated that the insinuations that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has concluded plans to move the FCT to Lagos were sponsored by “political opponents looking for all manners of weapons to prevent Asiwaju Tinubu from being elected as president by a section of the country.”

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He added: “Those behind this renewed sordid narrative, using the recent decision of the CBN and FAAN as pretext to start another round of toxic opposition are dishonest ethnic and regional champions, trying to draw attention to themselves.

“The status of Abuja as the Federal Capital has come to stay. It is backed by law.

“The movement of FAAN, an agency of Aviation Ministry, to Lagos, where it was located before former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, moved it to Abuja during the last administration, does not amount to moving the Federal Capital to Lagos.

“The administrative move should have ordinarily attracted scant attention, as Lagos is the commercial capital and the hub of aviation business in Nigeria. FAAN will still maintain some presence in Abuja. It is not a wholesale movement.

“Similarly, the movement of the Department of Banking Supervision of the CBN to Lagos should not trigger any discord within the polity. The department concerned deals with commercial banks, almost all of which have their headquarters in Lagos.

“All those pushing this campaign of falsehood and misinformation know they are merely playing politics, albeit a dangerous politics, to pit the North against the South.

“President Tinubu-led administration is working tirelessly to be just and equitable to every section of the country. We urge restraint on the part of those whose stock in trade is to create all manner of dangerous rumours to distract every government from the noble objective of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.”

The Star