Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum meets today to discuss CBN and Faan redeployments

NIGERIA'S Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has called a meeting in Abuja today to discuss the vexed issue of President Bola Tinubu relocating several agencies to Lagos which is causing a lot of consternation among northern socio-political groups.

Last month, the federal government announced the relocation of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (Faan) and some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to Lagos from Abuja. Both redeployments were designed to save costs and improve efficiency but groups like the Northern Elders Forum, have cried foul, saying the moves would under-develop northern Nigeria.

With the debate raging fiercely, SMBLF leaders have fixed a meeting in Abuja today to discuss the matter, in the hope that they can douse the tension a bit. One of the first persons to kick against both moves was the chief whip of the senate, Senator Ali Ndume, who said it was influenced by political cartels within the government.

Senator Ndume, the senator representing Borno South Senatorial District, said the cartels are offering the wrong advice to President Bola Tinubu to mislead him into implementing wrong policies. He threatened that if the president fails to reverse the move to relocate the two agencies to Lagos, it would brew a political crisis in the country.

Prior to Senator Ndume's reaction, the Arewa Consultative Forum had condemned the relocation of the two government agencies. Similarly, the Northern Senators Forum also threatened legal action against the federal government if the relocations of the offices were not reversed.

In the meeting to be attended by the leaders of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,  the South South Consultative Assembly and the Middle Belt Forum, today's meeting us expected come up with a definitive stance on the matter.  One source, said leaders in the three geo-political zones have decided to deliberate on the matter and take a unified position.

He added: “As you know, Nigeria doesn’t belong to just Yoruba and northerners. We are all citizens of the country so our voices should also matter in the decision making. We are going to thoroughly talk about this matter and other pressing issues that bother national unity.”

According to the source,  when such objections are made, they should be balanced and apply to everyone equally. Expressing concern about the stance of some northern leaders, he said for instance, the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company ought to be relocated to one of the oil producing states.