Furore over aviation agencies’ relocation to Abuja

The relocation of all the agencies in the aviation industry has continued to generate furore with the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), describing the move as not well thought out by the Ministry of Aviation.

While a few people said the relocation of the agencies would save the government costs of having the Chief Executive Officers of the agencies and critical officers frequent Abuja for administrative matters, others believe that the frequent visits to Abuja are really unnecessary and actually amounts to undue distraction and interference from the Ministry.

The Federal Ministry of Aviation has asked all the agencies under the Ministry to relocate their Corporate Headquarters to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

According to the Ministry, the relocation will ensure efficient and effective coordination and enhanced Service Delivery between the Ministry and its Agencies.

This was made known in a letter by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, addressed to the Manager/CEO of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. Titled: Relocation of aviation agencies’ headquarters to Abuja, and dated; May 4, 2020.

This latest push to relocate the agencies is coming eight years after the directives was given, and the agencies are yet to comply.

Part of the letter read: “Considering the current situation and the economic impact worldwide; as well as the need to reduce the cost of governance and manage the scare resources in a sustainable way, it has become imperative and further to the Honourable Minister’s directives (copy attached) to request that you facilitate and complete the relocation exercise of your Corporate Headquarters to Abuja within the next forty-five (45) days,in line with the earlier directives.”

In a statement by the Secretary General of NUATE, Ocheme Aba said none of the agencies have a relocation component in the 2020 approved budget, stressing that it would be impossible to contemplate such huge expenditure as extra budgetary spending, not to mention the impracticality of raising such funds in the current clime of over 90 per cent loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aba lamented that in most of the agencies in question, many staff are presently being owed transfer allowances for upward of 12 months, hinting that it is difficult to understand how an agency that has been unable to pay transfer allowances for a few staff can afford to relocate its whole headquarters comprising several offices and personnel without extra budgetary support.

His words, “We find this time extremely inauspicious for such exercise. It is apparent that this period of COVID-19 pandemic is simply unsuitable to engage in mass movement of people as this relocation exercise portends. One would not expect the Federal Government to contravene its own laws and guidelines regarding unnecessary movement of people, especially across states”.

He drew the attention of the Minister to various extenuative events in the past relevant to the relocation order, stating that important among them was the exemption granted the maritime and aviation agencies from the relocation order by the Obasanjo administration.

He disclosed that this was to prevent the severe dislocation of the connection between the agencies and their primary constituents that were, and still are, congregated around their operational bases in Lagos.

“This is the story behind the Ship House in Abuja which was built by the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) as its corporate headquarters but was released to the Nigerian military after the Obasanjo government decided to allow the NPA remain headquartered in Lagos.

We are confident that if the huge financial implications to airlines and other end users of the services of these agencies who are established in Lagos is factored into the relocation order, then, the cost would become too humongous to contemplate”.

Wole Shadare