By ASAJU TUNDE
Let me say that one of the most stupid decisions ever made in governance was to build a ‘Federal Secretariat’ in Abuja Central District.
Those who conceived the idea have their brains where their asses ought to be. No other nation builds its entire workforce in one location. It’s simple, you congest one area and make your entire workforce prone to attack. We don’t wait until there’s a war to prepare for war. You anticipate it.
Imagine if there is a war between Nigeria and any other nation or entity. All they need is a suicide bomber or two to wipe out our entire workforce. I know there are anti-aircraft missiles around the presidency, but just put yourself in the position of Russia and Ukraine. You’ll need your entire budget to defend the secretariat and Aso Rock.
So, what’s the hullabaloo over Bola Tinubu’s decision to move certain agencies of government back to Lagos? Apart from re-congesting Lagos, there’s nothing wrong with it.
To compound the situation, we have the National Assembly and the Supreme Court and residences of justices within the same location. I blame the military for that asinine decision. In a command and control system, nobody critiques the commander in chief over his stupid decisions.
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So, what’s the hullabaloo over Bola Tinubu’s decision to move certain agencies of government back to Lagos? Apart from re-congesting Lagos, there’s nothing wrong with it. FAAN works best in Lagos, it has the busiest airport in Nigeria and is destination to probably 70 percent of international flights.
The CBN could operate from anywhere.
I don’t see the hoopla over this by my northern wheeler-dealers who think that Abuja is not a federal capital territory but ‘part of the north’. What the ‘North’ gains from these agencies being in Abuja remains to be seen.
These are people whose homesteads are being ravaged with mindless violence. They are not concerned about kidnapping and various insurgencies going on in their homestead as they are about agencies being relocated. Honestly, we can’t make progress as a nation if we keep politicizing every move of government.
One clown even threatens political repercussions if the move is not reversed. Abeg, what political repercussions can you make over an administrative decision? These clowns should be more concerned about the much more germane issues of insecurity that has turned an otherwise peaceful area into a cauldron of violence and mass abductions.
I may not be a friend of consecutive regimes, but I am with Tinubu on this one. I hope he never cows to these people whose gods is their belly. I am a northerner and these clowns do not speak in my interest.
I see no reason why the navy couldn’t shift their operational headquarters to Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom or Cross River. It is logistically cool.
If I had my way, I will turn the Federal Secretariat to a mass housing estate and relocate ministries to Abuja’s other municipalities. That way, we reduce the congestion in the centre and bring development to the area councils. I see no reason why the navy couldn’t shift their operational headquarters to Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom or Cross River. It is logistically cool. There are others that should move also. This is 2024 and everything is not about ethnic politics. Human life should mean more than parochial politics.
If anybody should threaten Tinubu on governance, they should be telling him that if the killings and general insecurity in the northern part of Nigeria is not quelled under him, there would be electoral consequences. If they start saying and working towards that, then they’ll have my support.
