The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has offered explanation why the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Mr Festus Keyamo, ordered the relocation of its headquarters from Abuja to Lagos, almost four years after it was moved to Abuja on the order of erstwhile minister, Mr Hadi Sirika.
Recall that an internal memo issued by the managing director of FAAN, Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, conveyed the minister’s directive of the order to the director, human resources and administration of the authority on the relocation to Lagos.
The memo dated January 15, 2024 reads: “The honourable minister of aviation and aerospace development has directed that the headquarters of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) should be relocated from Abuja to Lagos.
“Consequent upon the above, you are requested to provide the implication of the relocation to the management.”
Explaining the ministerial directive, the spokesman for FAAN, Mrs Obiageli Orah, said in a statement that the relocation was done in the best interest of the Authority and the country stressing that the movement of the headquarters from Lagos to Abuja was “ill-advised…when when there was no single FAAN building in Abuja” to accommodate all the staff at once.
She said the relocation was implemented after robust “consultations by the new management of FAAN with stakeholders, which also involved the unions.”
She also said 60 per cent of FAAN’s activities are in Lagos given the huge passenger volume of the Lagos airports.
She further said it was not wise to abandon the old FAAN building in Lagos to rot away while using its scarce resources to rent an office space in Abuja for millions of naira of public fund.
Orah also announced that the minister had rolled out plans to get concessionaires to build befitting offices for FAAN 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.
Orah also said Abuja will continue to have full operational offices and that FAAN “has not scaled down operations in Abuja one bit” explaining that “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.
The statement reads: The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria notes the inquiries some Nigerians have made regarding the directive of the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Mr. Festus Keyamo to relocate the corporate headquarters of FAAN from Abuja to its original base, Lagos, where it has operated for decades until recently.
FAAN wishes to inform Nigerians that following wide consultations by the new management of FAAN with stakeholders, which also involved the unions, it was agreed that this was in the best interest of the Authority and the country for now for the following reasons:
*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 per cent 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.”
