Senators from the Northern part of Nigeria have pledged to resist the relocation of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and some offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Lagos from Abuja.
The lawmakers disclosed this following a move by the Federal government to relocate institutions from the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in the North Central to Lagos in the South.
Expressing their disapproval, the Senators insisted that the move was against the provisions of the constitution and to the detriment of the northern region.
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, the Senator representing Borno South told the Hausa version of BBC that the decision taken by the President Bola Ahmed-led government was against the provisions of the constitution which states that Abuja is the federal capital where the headquarters of all government departments should be located.
WikkiTimes recalls that CBN in an internal memo last week, announced plans to relocate some of its departments to Lagos on the ground that its headquarters in Abuja is congested with staff, which it says is causing problems.
Similarly, the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development also announced the transfer of the FAAN headquarters from Abuja to Lagos.
Senator Ndume faulted the reasons cited by the authorities, “There is no place in Nigeria that is as crowded as Lagos. There are abundant spaces in Abuja everywhere” He added that the government must be fair in any action it takes.
Earlier in a statement on Monday, the senators under the aegis of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF) condemned the move and called on President Tinubu who was the governor of Lagos State, to consider reversal of the relocated departments or ready to face legal actions.
The federal government’s move was also rejected by the Joint-Action Northern Youth Associations, the pro-democracy northern organisation, comprising 16 civil society organisations in the North.
