The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has described the insinuations making the rounds that its recently demolished Lagos office cost N5 billion as highly exaggerated.
Setting the records straight while reacting to the rumour, the spokesperson for the bureau, Mr Tunji Oketumbi described the rumour that the former building cost N5 billion as misleading.
Speaking on the controversy generated by the relocation of the erstwhile Lagos workers of the bureau to Abuja, Oketumbi explained that in 2012, the Federal Government directed all agencies to relocate their respective headquarters to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.
“In line with the Ministers’ directive, the Bureau commenced a phased relocation implementation with the Commissioner/CEO, Directors and some members of staff relocating immediately to Abuja: whilst other members of staff relocation were scheduled for implementation in phases due to accommodation and financial constraints. The relocation of the Bureau from Lagos to Abuja was not precipitous, as claimed by media reports.
“Without a doubt, AIB-N erstwhile Lagos office (former Corporate Headquarters) has since the ministerial relocation directive, served mostly as a regional administrative liaison office. All it’s core operational functions/facilities in the discharge of its statutory mandate were positioned in Abuja except for the command-and-control centre which just recently repositioned safely to Abuja”.
According to Oketumbi, the AIB-N’s Lagos office was inevitably earmarked for demolition due to its location which directly impacts some critical features necessary for the seamless operations of the just commissioned newly constructed terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State.
“It is not lost on us that all land at the airport belongs to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN): and can be retrieved at any time for an overriding public interest, as in the present circumstances”.
AIB-N, he reiterated, was allotted land space at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja to build its training school, which is 90 per cent completed, and its proposed new Corporate Headquarters, stressing that talks are ongoing with FAAN to have a suitable location in Lagos as its regional office.
Oketunbi further disclosed the Bureau currently has two regional offices – Kano and Enugu – hinting that the Bureau has restructured its operations to fit into the current situation and continues to communicate with all its staff on the ongoing relocation.
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