Presidency rejects rumour of planned relocation of Nigeria’s capital to Lagos

The presidency has dismissed a rumour on the planned restoration of Lagos as Nigeria’s capital.

The rumour which surfaced on social media followed the recent decision of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to move its headquarters from Abuja to Lagos.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had also moved some of its key departments to Lagos in a bid to decongest its head office in Abuja.

The Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, had on Tuesday warned that the relocation of the FAAN and CBN offices to Lagos would have political consequences.

Ndume, who spoke in a Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, alleged that some selfish individuals are misguiding Tinubu to take wrong decisions.

However, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement posted on his official X handle on Wednesday, described the rumour as unfounded.

He said the rumour started during the 2023 general elections campaign and was trashed immediately.

The former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, moved the country’s capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991.

Onanuga wrote: “President Tinubu has no plan whatsoever to move the Federal Capital to Lagos. The rumour first surfaced during the campaign last year by opponents looking for all manners of weapons to stop him. We trashed it.

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“Those peddling it anew are dishonest, ethnic and regional champions trying to draw attention to themselves. Abuja has come to stay. It is backed by law.

“The movement of FAAN, a department of the Aviation Ministry to Lagos where it was based before former minister, Hadi Sirika, moved it to Abuja during the last administration, does not amount to moving the FCT to Lagos.

“The administrative move should have attracted scant attention as Lagos is the commercial capital and the hub of aviation business in Nigeria. FAAN should be nowhere else but near the industry it regulates. FAAN will still maintain some presence in Abuja, as it is not a wholesale movement.

“All those pushing this campaign of falsehood know they are 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. NIMASA is in Lagos. So is NPA. National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) is in Lokoja, not Abuja. Will the people opposing the movement of FAAN and some CBN departments want those agencies to be in Abuja, where there is no single port and no maritime activity?

“Administrative decisions should not be politicized. Let it not look like whenever we are temporarily not at the helm of affairs, we create all manners of dangerous rumours to distract from the bigger picture and emasculate an administration led by a Southerner. Let’s stop the dirty politics. We can’t be playing politics with everything.”

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