Arewa group blasts Tinubu over relocation of CBN units, FAAN headquarters to Lagos

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), a prominent pan-northern socio-political organization, has strongly criticized the decision by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to relocate key departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to Lagos.

The ACF contended that the move is a deliberate attempt to further underdevelop the northern region of the country.

The CBN’s internal memo, released last week, outlined plans to transfer certain departments to Lagos, citing congestion at its headquarters in Abuja. The memo stated, “This initiative aims to ensure compliance with building safety standards and enhance the efficient utilization of our office space.”

Similarly, the Federal Government officially announced the relocation of FAAN’s headquarters from Abuja to Lagos through a memo dated January 15, 2024.

In response, the ACF, represented by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Mohammed-Baba, issued a statement in Kaduna on Sunday, expressing strong opposition to the planned relocations. The statement, titled “Planned relocation of key CBN units and FAAN headquarters to Lagos deliberate ploy to further underdevelop northern Nigeria,” argued that the move was done in bad faith.

“The ACF calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria, and the National Assembly, to call on those agencies to retrace their steps and apply other honest means of addressing the alleged overcrowding in offices,” said Prof. Tukur Mohammed-Baba, the ACF National Publicity Secretary. “Against the situation in Lagos, there is plenty of land in the Federal Capital Territory for expansion of office and other infrastructural facilities and such factors should not be used to obfuscate sinister motives.”

“The ACF wishes to remind all concerned that decades ago, the seat of the capital of the Federal Republic was moved from Lagos to Abuja for reasons that remain valid, it is constitutional even more so today, constitutionally so, although, of course, a section of the country never liked the decision,” the ACF emphasized in its statement.