AS the unnecessary controversy over the relocation of some government agencies from Abuja to Lagos for efficiency rages on, with the different tribal and political jingoists showing their true colours, ordinary Nigerians who cannot even boast of one meal per day must have realised by now that the majority of their so-called leaders are mere shadow chasers. In a country where people are being killed like fowls every second due to insecurity encouraged by some in high places for selfish reasons; in a country where people are dying of hunger; in a country where the majority of the youth are fleeing to other countries due to years of leadership without vision and mission, those who are supposed to formulate and implement policies that would cushion the effects of these afflictions are only interested in mundane issues like the relocation of agencies, not to another country but still within the same enclave, Nigeria!
Since the government’s directive through the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), that the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) be relocated back to its original base in Lagos, those who ordinarily should know better have chosen to play up ethnic and emotional interests above the national interest. Unknown to this group of people, the more they argue against the relocation, the more they expose their myopic traits of selfishness and the fake regional interest they are canvassing. Painfully, amidst the barrage of suffering tearing different parts of the country apart, the focus of the so-called leaders is on how to protect the interest of their families and cronies working in the different parastatals. Therefore, the macabre dance continues with the opponents of the progressive policy singing different tunes. The height of their shenanigans came recently when some groups being used by certain politicians and which perhaps deliberately or ignorantly failed to understand the workings of aviation, began calling for the removal of the minister because of the relocation.
The groups, in the communique calling for the removal of the minister and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, declared: “This is not a punitive measure but an urgent step to restore public trust, ensure accountability, and uphold the constitutional integrity of key institutions that significantly influence our nation’s economic and administrative landscape. We call on our representatives in the National Assembly to exercise their full legislative oversight functions. We urge them to set a definite deadline for the executive to rescind the decisions related to the relocation of CBN departments and FAAN headquarters as well as to take proactive corrective measures.” They even went as far as commending the northern federal lawmakers who they said expressed their dissatisfaction with the planned relocation of CBN and FAAN.
While the excesses of the different interest groups can be ignored based on their lack of knowledge on how a sensitive sector like aviation abhors dirty politics or emotional bigotry but runs on international best practices since the activities therein are centered around human safety and air transport in general, it is however appalling that certain so-called lawmakers in the National Assembly are those clandestinely backing those who are using the issue to threaten the relative peace of the aviation sector. Calling for the removal of the minister over the FAAN headquarters relocation has only gone to show the double-faced nature of human beings, with reference to Nigeria in this instance.
For those calling for the removal of Keyamo now, where were they when the same FAAN headquarters, with those of other aviation agencies whose major functions are in Lagos, was relocated to Abuja by the then Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika? Despite the zero preparations for the relocation of the headquarters from Lagos where more than 80 percent of revenue generation in the sector comes from, and the hardships the 2020 relocation inflicted on the affected workers and their families, these people found nothing wrong with the Sirika relocation policy then.
Amidst the ongoing embarrassment, the questions on the lips of many include: why the deliberate silence of the two House committees on aviation in particular, and other lawmakers who are supposedly the people’s representatives? Equally, does the silence of the committees mean tacit support for those beating drums of ethnicity and emotional abuse over the relocation, or can it be taken that they are just incompetent?
While the noise about the return of the FAAN headquarters back to Lagos continues, one wonders where these ‘aggrieved’ people were when the same FAAN and the entire sector grappled with numerous challenges.
Why are the so-called lawmakers aiding and abetting the shenanigans amidst more critical issues bedeviling the sector like the foreign airlines’ trapped funds, the scarcity of forex threatening domestic airline businesses, the ongoing international conspiracy against Nigerians and the airlines and many other crises? In case these local champions don’t know, there are more critical issues calling for their attention.
and then