Relocation toward dual capitals?- Salisu Na’inna Dambatta

By Salisu Na’inna Dambatta

As many people know I have defended decisions by the All Progressives Congress-led federal administration right from 2015, I have been accosted by many individuals to comment on the recent decision of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to move the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos.

I referred them to a claim by Mrs Obiageli Orah, FAAN Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection that the relocation was based on “wide consultations by the new management of FAAN with stakeholders, which also involved the Unions.

Her “wide-consultations” claim   seems doubtful when she confessed that, “The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria noted the inquiries some Nigerians have made regarding the directive of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, to relocate the  Headquarters of FAAN from Abuja to Lagos.” This clearly affirmed that the relocation was solely on the directive of the powerful Minister.

One of the people challenged me to see the linkage between Keyamo’s decision and the denial for permit by the Obasanjo and Jonathan administrations. when Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Etihad Airlines wanted to make the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, their hub in Africa.

Before I replied him, others sent text messages asking me to tell them who pressured British Airways,  KLM, and others to stop the Kano route?  KLM,  the Royal Dutch Airline, started flights between Amsterdam and Kano in 1947. Some forces allegedly forced it to stop flying that route in 2012. 

However, those accosting me delightfully acknowledged that Ethiopian Airlines., Egyptair, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Sudan Airways, Africa Airways Airlines, and Qatar Airways still operate flights to Kano.

As the explanation that some non-European foreign airlines still fly the Kano route seemed to have created doubt about a hidden agenda to isolate the North from international air travel, a member of the APC branch in my ward asked me to explain the movement of the most relevant Departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from its official headquarters in the national capital, Abuja, to Lagos.

To explain it properly, I checked the CBN Establishment Act 2007. Section 3 of the CBN Act 2007  says, “The Bank shall have its Head Office in any location which is by law the capital of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and may open branches in any part of Nigeria and appoint agents and correspondents abroad in accordance with the decisions of the Board.”

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Lawyers may say moving the key CBN departments to Lagos from its head office in Abuja could be covered by Section 3, provided that the Board okayed it, even if in error or for political reasons.

A regular listener of radio broadcasts said that with technology institutions can effectively function from any location. He then recalled a previous campaign to make Lagos a special Federal Territory and suspects that some powerful people may be working to have two capitals namely Abuja, the constitutional capital, and Lagos, the politically convenient one that fits a long-standing agenda to restructure Nigeria.

I thought the radio listener was over-imagining things, but he referred to the N7 billion approved by the National Assembly in the 2023 Supplementary Budget for the renovation of an abode for the President in Dodan Barracks and that for the Vice President in Lagos as evidence of preparations to have Lagos as a second national capital.

The man did not give me a chance to debunk his argument and said more than one national capital is not new in the world or Africa. He cited South Africa and the Republic of Benin which have two capitals as possible inspiration for Nigeria to have dual capitals.

I was dumbfounded by his analysis. But I argued that the APC committee led by former Kaduna state Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, which drafted ideas for restructuring Nigeria did not recommend two capitals for our country. This exonerates the APC from the controversy.

Dambatta is APC national Director of Publicity on leave