The Emir of Kano has said that the FAAN and CBN departments’ relocation to Lagos is suspicious.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado, on Monday, described as suspicious the relocation of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria from Abuja to Lagos.
This was as he asked the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to tell her husband, President Bola Tinubu, that Nigerians were facing difficulties due to the high cost of living in the country.
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The emir spoke when he received the President’s wife who paid him a courtesy visit in his palace in Kano.
The Emir of Kano, whose speech was translated from Hausa to English language by a senior palace counsellor, said, “We are indeed suspicious on why Mr. President single-handedly relocated key departments of CBN, and outright relocation of FAAN to Lagos.
“We are receiving a series of messages from my subjects, and most of them expressed concern over the relocation of CBN and FAAN to Lagos.”
He said the Federal Government should “come out clean on this matter and talk to Nigerians in the languages they would understand.”
“Do more enlightenment on this matter. I, for one, cannot tell the actual intentions of the government. We should be made to actually understand why the relocation of the CBN and FAAN offices back to Lagos,” the emir stressed.
NewsOnline Nigeria recalls that the CBN in an internal memo in January announced plans to transfer some of its departments to Lagos State, citing congestion at the headquarters in Abuja.
The apex bank said the move was to decongest the Abuja head office.
“This initiative aims to ensure compliance with building safety standards and enhance the efficient utilization of our office space,” it said.
Similarly, the Federal Government, in a memo dated January 15, 2024, announced the relocation of the FAAN’s headquarters from Abuja to Lagos.
Strong voices from the North expressed reservations about the move. The Arewa Consultative Forum maintained that the move was a deliberate ploy to underdevelop the northern region of the country.
Similarly, the Senator representing Borno South Senatorial, Ali Ndume, said President Tinubu was being misinformed by “political cartels” to make wrong decisions.
But the Presidency has continued to maintain that the relocation of the CBN departments and FAAN headquarters to Lagos was in the best interest of the nation.
“Those behind this renewed sordid narrative, using the recent decision of the CBN and FAAN as a pretext to start another round of toxic opposition, are dishonest ethnic and regional champions, trying to draw attention to themselves,” the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had said.
Onanuga said the Tinubu-led administration was “working tirelessly to be just and equitable to every section of the country,” urging restraint on the part of those it called rumour mongers who “distract every government from the noble objective of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.”
Meanwhile, the emir also asked the President’s wife to let him know that Nigerians were hungry.
He said, “Although we have several means of communicating to him (Tinubu) on our needs and requests, yours (Oluremi) is certainly a sure way to the President.
“I want to admit that you inherited this situation, but the horrific decline in the standard of living under your administration is alarming and deserves urgent attention.
“The issue of insecurity is another serious problem confronting us as a people, and of course, I know your government inherited it, but something more serious should be done to take care of the threats.”
He, however, commended Mrs Tinubu for her commitment to the well-being of the Nigerian children and advised her to actualise her pet projects under the Renewed Hope Agenda to accommodate the underprivileged.
