The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, says there is no going back on the relocation of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos.
“We are going ahead. The directive has been given,” the minister said matter-of-factly on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday.
Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South as well as chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and other northern groups had kicked against the moves by FAAN and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), insinuating that it was an attempt to marginalise the north.
However, Keyamo said the movement of the headquarters of the airport authority has become necessary in line with current economic and operational realities.
Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the movement of the FAAN headquarters would, every year, save the government and the people of Nigeria half a billion naira wasted on air tickets by officials of the authority who have to commute from Lagos to Abuja and back.
The minister said top FAAN officials and aviation unions approached him that the head office of the authority be moved to Lagos for operational efficiency.
