Victor EzejaThe Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has given reasons for the Federal Government’s decision to move the Authority’s corporate Headquarters from Abuja back to Lagos.
An internal memo signed by Managing Director of FAAN, Olubunmi Kuku, revealed that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, directed that the agency’s headquarters be relocated from Abuja to Lagos.
Following widespread speculation, FAAN’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Obiageli Orah, issued a statement on Thursday to confirm the development.
Originally, FAAN’s corporate headquarters had been in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, where it had operated for decades, but was moved to Abuja four years ago.
According to the statement, the relocation of FAAN’s headquarters from Lagos to Abuja was “ill-advised” in the first place, because there was no single FAAN building in Abuja to accommodate its staff members at once.
It said the decision to relocate back to Lagos, was taken after a series of consultations by FAAN management with stakeholders, adding that it was in the best interest of the Authority and the country generally.
The Reasons For Relocation
The agency gave eight reasons for the relocation of its corporate headquarters back to Lagos which include:
- Those affected by the decision to move the headquarters to Abuja have since returned to Lagos as there is no office space for them in Abuja. It was ill-advised in the first place to move the headquarters to Abuja when there was no single FAAN building in Abuja to accommodate all of them at once.
- Having returned to Lagos, the Authority would be liable to pay them DTA (DUTY TOUR ALLOWANCE) because technically they are working OUT OF STATION as their official posting is to ABUJA. The Minister has decided to stop this waste of public resources and rip-off on the public purse.
- The other option open to the Authority was abandon the old FAAN building in Lagos to rot away and to use its scarce resources to rent an office space in Abuja for Millions of Naira of public money when in actual fact more than sixty percent of its activities are in Lagos given the huge passenger volume of the Lagos airports. The stakeholders and the Minister decided against that and to save the country this waste.
- The Minister has rolled out plans to get concessionaires to build befitting offices for the Authority in Lagos and Abuja and until that is done, the Authority will continue to manage its old building in Lagos that can accommodate all its Directors and senior officials for now.
- Abuja continues to have full operational offices and the Authority has not scaled down operations in Abuja one bit. It is just the technical decision of where the Authority has its ‘corporate headquarters’ that has been taken without affecting the structure of operations as they are for now in both cities.
- In the near future, when befitting corporate buildings have been built for the Authority in both Lagos and Abuja, a final decision will be taken as to the location of the permanent headquarters, depending on the exigencies of the time.
- The Authority wishes to assure members of the public that it will continue to act in the best interest of the public and the country.
- The Honourable Minister is committed to taking decisions that are in the best interest of the country, especially as it concerns public funds and will not yield to ethnic or sectional sentiments that will derail this commitment’ Thank you. Obiageli Orah (Mrs.) Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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