The Senator representing Borno South Senatorial, Ali Ndume, has faulted the planned relocation of certain departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria from Abuja to Lagos.
According to him, President Bola Tinubu is being misinformed by “political cartels” to make wrong decisions.
Speaking during an interview with Channels Television on Tuesday, he said that the president is being ill-advised by “Lagos boys” in the corridors of power.
“All these Lagos boys who are thinking that Lagos is Nigeria are just misinforming and advising the President wrongly,” the senator said.
Some of the CBN departments targeted for relocation are the Banking Supervision, Other Financial Institutions Supervision, Consumer Protection Department, Payment System Management Department, and Financial Policy Regulations Department.
A source told our correspondent that the move of the apex bank is to decongest the apex bank’s head office located in the Federal Capital Territory.
FAAN also explained that the relocation will help to curb the waste of public resources and also prevent the rot of its abandoned Lagos building.
“The Minister (Festus Keyamo) has decided to stop this waste of public resources and rip-off on the public purse,” the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at FAAN, Obiageli Orah, said in a statement.
Ndume, the Chief Whip of the Senate, however, said the relocation of the office to Lagos will have political consequences.
He said, “We only have one federal capital, and that is Abuja. The regulators of the financial institutions are supposed to be or are in Abuja. Do you want them to move back because, as you say, Lagos is the commercial capital?
“This is one of the mistakes, and I’m sure Mr. President will reverse it because it doesn’t work. You can’t have two capitals.
“Is the CBN governor going to be operating from Lagos? Or do you now say that because the majority of our oil is extracted from South-South, you take NNPC to the South-South?
“Or is it because Nigeria’s agriculture is more in the north that you take the Ministry of Agriculture anywhere in the north? It doesn’t work that way.”
He added, “I’m very sure and confident that Mr. President will look at this situation because he is a nationalist and not just a Lagos man.”
The development has elicited varied reactions, with various northern stakeholders like the Arewa Consultative Forum, rejecting the decision.
The pan-northern socio-political organisation said the relocations of the two agencies are a deliberate ploy to further underdevelop the northern region of the country