By Gabriel Agbeja
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Thursday said that it relocated its corporate headquarters from Abuja to Lagos to reduce expenditures.
This is contained in a statement in Abuja, by Mrs Obiageli Orah, Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN.
According to her, Mr Festus Kayamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, gave the order for the relocation, with a view to stopping the waste of public resources and rip-off on the public purse.
She said that the FAAN Management with stakeholders, which also involved the Unions, agreed that the action was in the best interest of the authority and the country for now.
“Those affected by the decision to move the headquarters to Abuja have since returned to Lagos as there is no office space for them in Abuja.
“It was ill-advised in the first place to move the headquarters to Abuja when there was no single FAAN building in Abuja to accommodate all of them at once.
“Having returned to Lagos, the Authority will be liable to pay them DTA because technically they are working out of station as their official posting is to Abuja,” she said.
She noted that more than 60 per cent of the FAAN activities was in Lagos, given the huge passenger volume of the Lagos airports.
“The Minister has rolled out plans to get concessionaires to build befitting offices for the Authority in Lagos and Abuja.
“Until that is done, the authority will continue to manage its old building in Lagos that can accommodate all its directors and senior officials for now”, she also said.
She added that Abuja would continue to have full operational offices as the FAAN had not scaled down operations in Abuja one bit.
“It is just the technical decision of where the authority has its ‘corporate headquarters’ that has been taken without affecting the structure of operations as they are for now in both cities.
“In the near future, when befitting corporate buildings have been built for the authority in both Lagos and Abuja, a final decision will be taken as to the location of the permanent headquarters.
“This will depend on the exigencies of the time,” she said.
The director stressed that the FAAN was determined to continue to act in the best interest of the public and the country.
She added that the minister was committed to taking decisions that are in the best interest of the country, especially as it concerned public funds, and would not yield to ethnic or sectional sentiments that would derail his commitment.
(NAN)
