Agencies in the Nigerian aviation industry in Nigeria have denied the claim in some quarters that their headquarters have been relocated to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by the Federal Government.

The spokesmen of the agencies who spoke to INDEPENDENT insisted that their agencies still remained in Lagos and described the report of relocation rumours as false.

Mr. Sam Adurogboye, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), in a telephone interview with our correspondent said that the structure of the organisation had not changed in recent time.

Adurgboye declared that the corporate headquarters of NCAA had always been in Abuja in almost a decade, while its Lagos office had been operational headquarters.

He insisted that the report of relocation out of Lagos was false, stressing that as a senior management staff and the mouthpiece of the agency, he would be in the know and also affected if such directive was issued to the agency.

He said: “Our corporate headquarters has always been in Abuja since the days of Dr. Harold Demuren, the former Director-General of NCAA. Our Lagos office has always been operational headquarters. So, there is no any iota of truth in that report that we have been ordered to relocate to Abuja.

“It is a rumour; there is no any new directive for us to move again out of Lagos. If there was such a directive, I will be aware of it and may also be affected, too. But, as I am talking to you, we are all in Lagos.”

Besides, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, the General Manager, Public Affairs, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), said the report was false.

He, like Adurogboye, emphasised that the management staff were yet to receive such directive, saying that everyone had been carrying out his or her duty as in the past.

Also, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, said she was not aware of such directive.

When our correspondent contacted Mr. James Odaudu, the Assistant Director, Media, Ministry of Transportation, Aviation Unit, his mobile phones were switched off.

It would be recalled that a newspaper (not Daily Independent) had reported on Wednesday that the Federal Government through the Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State for Aviation, had ordered the relocation of agencies’ headquarters to Abuja.

It would be recalled that the relocation policy was first mooted in 2008 by the then government through a directive contained in a letter circulated to the agencies directing them to relocate their headquarters to Abuja.

The relocation order had then directed Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), AIB, FAAN and NCAA to relocate to the Federal Capital Territory for their operations.

While other agencies temporarily relocated their agencies to Abuja then, FAAN was not affected by the order as its headquarters remained in Lagos.

But, sometime last year, there was a report that the agency had commenced construction of its hew office in Abuja.

The relocation order then, sparked criticisms amongst key players who argued that since almost 80 per cent of flight operations and major aviation activities take place in Lagos, that there was no point relocating them out of their operational base.

•Sourced from a Daily Independent report