The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, said the administration of President Bola Tinubu is not planning to relocate the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from Abuja to Lagos State.
Recalled that the federal government had announced the relocation of the department of Banking Supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Lagos State. Similarly, the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development is moving the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to its office in Lagos State.
This decisions was received with mixed reactions from different sections of the Nigerian population, who saw it as a hidden agenda to relocate the seat of power back to Lagos State
Mr. Onanuga, while reacting to this in a statement on Thursday, said the relocation of some departments and Parastatals from Abuja to Lagos was for administrative convenience and better service delivery to Nigerians.
“We consider it necessary to inform Nigerians that there is no iota of truth in the interpretations given to the directives in some quarters and the unfounded claims and rumours that President Bola Tinubu is planning to relocate the Federal Capital back to Lagos.
“These rumours, which first surfaced during the electioneering last year, was 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.”
“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,” Onanuga said.
He said that the movement was for administrative convenience because Lagos is the commercial capital and the hub of aviation business in Nigeria.
Onanuga said that FAAN would still maintain some presence in Abuja while the CBN 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.
“There are many parastatals that are not based in Abuja depending on their mandate. The headquarters of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), for example, are in Lagos.
“In the same vein, the headquarters of National Inland Waterways Authority( NIWA) is in Lokoja, while that of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), is in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.”
The presidential aide called for restraint from those misinforming the populace about the relocations, saying that it’s a disincentive to the administration’s desire of being just and equitable to Nigerians.
“Our citizens desire nothing but good governance that positively impacts their lives. Rumour mongering is a pernicious disservice to this ultimate expectation of our people.”