Arewa Forum fumes, opposes relocation of CBN departments, FAAN headquarters to Lagos

• The group also kicked against the relocation of a unit of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Lagos.

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) says there are plots by some vested interest to make sure the north is deprived of development by refusing to locate critical infrastructure and government institution in the region.

They said this in reaction to the planned relocation of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) headquarters to Lagos state.

The group also kicked against the relocation of a unit of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Lagos.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, the ACF said this decisions are aimed at stunting the growth of the north and further keeping it underdeveloped.

The statement reads “It is easy to ignore such planned actions by the CBN and FAAN but it is impossible to fail to see in them a clear pattern of thinly disguised marginalisation of the North.

“The CBN recently announced the relocation of some of its key departments from Abuja to Lagos, understandably sparking a wave of anxiety and outcry from many Nigerians, especially Northerners who, obviously would be most adversely affected by the spontaneous exercise.

“The CBN’s decision is no means isolated or normal administrative action to fix some logistics problem. Rather, it fits into a disturbing pattern of antagonistic actions often taken by certain federal administrations against the interests of Northern and other parts of Nigeria. The CBN’s announcement was followed by another from the Federal Ministry of Aviation’s Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) plans to also relocate to Lagos, due to shortage of office space and claim of the volume of air traffic handled by Lagos. The proposed actions of the two agencies, i.e. CBN and FAAN are precipitous and mala fide.

“Still in the Ministry of Aviation, only 8 of 40 directors recently appointed are from the North! As if deliberately designed to be made public in drip-drip fashion, a leaked letter to the Minister of Aviation from a contractor, AVSATEL, became public, wherein the company sought permission to relocate the project for refurbishing Airport Rescue and FireFighting Vehicles (ARFF) from Katsina to “the south” or Abuja, but sneakily mentioning Lagos, Ibadan or Enugu. AVSATEL sought to rationalise its suggestion on issues that should have been in the scope of the works when the company bided for the job but which it clearly ignored then.”