By Kamil Opeyemi
The Presidency on Wednesday dispelled rumours of a plan to move the nation’s capital back to Lagos.
The presidency, through the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement that some anti-government elements are already weaving negative narratives together to create a national crisis.
Onanuga said the movements of some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria are not enough to mislead Nigerians.
Onanuga said the rumour came first during the campaign last year by those he called “opponents looking for all manners of weapons to stop him.”
“We trashed it,” Onanuga stated adding that 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,” he stated
Explaining the the movement of FAAN, Onanuga said it was moved to Abuja during the last administration when the former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika.
“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 no where else but near the industry it regulates. FAAN will still maintain some presence in Abuja, as it is not a wholesale movement,” he said
Onanuga the same goes for some departments of the CBN to Lagos which he said should not trigger any hoopla.
“The departments concerned, including the bank supervision department, are those dealing with commercial banks, all with headquarters in Lagos. A regulator ought to be close to the businesses it regulates.
“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?” he queried.
Saying that administrative decisions should not be politicized, he advised those peddling the alleged rumour that it must not be allowed to 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.”