The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria confirmed on 15 January 2024 that it was relocating its corporate headquarters from Abuja back to Lagos, following a directive from Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo. The instruction, contained in a memo from FAAN managing director Olubunmi Kuku to the agency's director of human resources, asked staff to work out the practical implications of the move.
The decision reversed a policy set by Keyamo's predecessor, Hadi Sirika, who had moved FAAN and other aviation agencies to Abuja in 2020 under a long-standing presidential directive dating back to 2012 that required federal parastatals to headquarter in the capital.
A Costly Split
Explaining the decision on Channels Television at the end of January, Keyamo said the relocation to Abuja had never been properly resourced, leaving senior directors based in the capital without the supporting staff needed to function, while the bulk of FAAN's roughly 130 headquarters staff remained in Lagos, where more than 60 percent of the agency's operational activity was concentrated. He said the arrangement had forced employees to fly back and forth between the two cities simply to get documents signed, at a cost of close to N450 million on flight tickets in a single year.
The minister said the decision was his to make as minister and did not require presidential sign-off, while pledging that his ministry would eventually build proper office facilities for FAAN in both Lagos and Abuja. He later said the relocation would save the federal government roughly N1 billion annually in travel and allowance costs.
Mixed Reaction
The move drew some criticism from northern civil society voices, including the Arewa Consultative Forum, which linked it to a similar decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria to shift departments back to Lagos and questioned the wider pattern of reversing Abuja-based relocations. FAAN itself defended the decision publicly, saying it had consulted staff unions and concluded that Lagos remained the more practical base given the absence of a single FAAN building large enough to house the agency in Abuja.
