The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has shed more light on the motive behind the relocation of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos.
The government, he said, would be saving more than N450 million air fares that would have been spent by officials on trips from Abuja to attend meetings in Lagos in one year.
“We are going ahead. The directive has been given,” the minister said in a chat on a national television yesterday.
Borno South Senator Ali Ndume, some chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and other Northern groups, kicked against the relocation of FAAN headquarters and some offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
They insinuated that the move was an attempt to marginalise the North.
But, Keyamo said the movement of the headquarters of the airport authority has become necessary in line with current economic and operational realities.
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.
On whether President Bola Tinubu was aware of the decision or not, he said: “I take the decision; it’s a decision under the purview of a minister.”
