A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Yekini Nabena, has urged President Bola Tinubu to consider relocating the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA and Nigerian Ports Authority to the Niger Delta region for efficiency.
The APC chieftain also requested that the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment be relocated to Kano or Anambra states, where people trade in large numbers, to justify the planned relocation of some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria outside of the Federal Capital Territory.
Nabena’s request comes a few days after the Federal Government indicated an interest in moving some parts of CBN and FAAN to Lagos State for the efficiency of its activities.
The development has however generated a lot of contentious debates with some Northern senators and elite kicking against the decision.
While making reference to an interview published on April 11, 1997, titled ‘I don’t believe in one Nigeria — Tinubu’, the former APC spokesman said the presidency must come out clean on the real intention for relocation of the two affected agencies.
Nabena said federal agencies are symbols of Nigerian unity and should not be played with.
He said, “If the efficiency of these agencies is the main reason for the plan to relocate them to Lagos State, we from the Niger Delta are also asking that the NNPCL, NIMASA, NPA, and others will be more effective in either Bayelsa, Rivers or Delta states.
“In the same way, the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steal Development should be moved to Kogi state where we have the Ajaokuta Steal for efficiency. I also believe that the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment should either be relocated to Kano or Anambra states where trade is done in high proportion. In the same way, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture should be taken to Benue State, the food basket of the Nation.”
Continuing, the APC chieftain said the issue of oil companies relocating to the oil-producing Niger Delta region had been debated severally in the Nigerian Senate with the companies not heeding the calls.
“The Senate had asked International Oil Companies to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta region to fast-track the host communities economic development but some powerful interests in Lagos are preventing this for their selfish interests,” he stated.
Nabena also expressed shock that the National Assembly is keeping quiet over some developments ongoing in the country.