The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed its concerns regarding the recent decision of the Federal Government to relocate some government agencies from Abuja to Lagos under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
They believe that this decision needs to be further evaluated to ensure that it benefits all regions of the country and promotes inclusive growth.
The forum argued that based on the explanation of the government, then various Ministries, Departments and Agencies can be distributed to various states based on the kind of activities peculiar to such areas.
The Chairman of the Board Of Trustees, Arewa Consultative Forum, Bashir Dalhatu, who spoke during an interview with Arise TV, said if the federal government argues that the decision to move FAAN is based on the fact that most airlines operate from Lagos, then the Ministry of Commerce should be moved to Onitsha, Anambra state or Kano state that are considered the commercial hubs in Nigeria.
“You should take the Ministry of Education or Agriculture to Makurdi where there is a lot of Agricultural activities and food production. You can distribute these Ministries to locations according to the kind of activity you can identify.
“But that is not the intention or reason or purpose of establishing a Federal Capital Territory. It supposed to be in itself a symbol of unity, a symbol of togetherness of this country. The moment you start dismembering Ministries back to Lagos, first you are establishing a precedence which means next government that comes on and doesn’t happen to come from the South will now return them or transfer them back to Abuja or Sokoto or Kano or Calabar.”
Recall thatearlier reported that the federal government has ordered that the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) be moved from Abuja to Lagos State.
Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to decongest its head office in Abuja and transfer some of its departments to Lagos State. The apex bank stated that the move is meant to increase the productivity of the affected staff while also cutting costs and ensuring their safety.
It further said the decongestion would also improve the apex bank’s operational and workflow efficiency.
However, Dalhatu said the intention of creating the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is to create a symbol of unity and togetherness but the current move by the government is not suggesting that purpose is being fulfilled by its policy direction.
He warned against setting unsustainable precedence and argued that if the next administration is not okay with the movement of such agencies to Lagos, then it would, again, transfer them to Abuja or other places in the country if it feels is the right location.