President Bola Tinubu has ordered the suspension of the newly introduced cashless payment system at airport toll gates across Nigeria.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced the decision on Wednesday, March 4, following the Federal Executive Council meeting held at the State House in Abuja.
Keyamo said the President directed an immediate suspension of the system and instructed authorities to revert to the previous payment arrangement while a more effective electronic solution is developed.
“Mr. President was very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were losing their flights, missing their flights,” Keyamo stated.
“So Mr. President, out of empathy, directed today that we should suspend the present system because it creates a lot of gridlock, and Nigerians are suffering as a result of it,” he added.
According to the minister, the main concern was the heavy traffic experienced at airport entry points, particularly in Lagos and Abuja.
“The major reason why Mr. President took this decision is to eliminate the present gridlock that we are experiencing, especially at both the Lagos and Abuja toll gates leading to the airport,” Keyamo explained.
“That’s the major reason, not that the President is happy with the cash system,” the minister clarified.
The cashless toll policy was introduced by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as part of efforts to improve transparency and reduce revenue leakages at airport collection points.
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For more than five decades, toll payments at airports had been made largely in cash.
However, the transition to electronic payments created operational challenges shortly after it was introduced.
Many motorists struggled with the new payment system, resulting in long queues at toll gates and severe delays on roads leading to major airports.
As a temporary solution, Keyamo said the government will implement a hybrid payment system allowing both cash payments and the use of prepaid FAAN cards already issued to some motorists.
“We are going to do a hybrid system whereby we can collect cash temporarily and, of course, use the cards that they have collected temporarily for now,” he said.
The minister also revealed that the government plans to involve private sector partners in designing a more efficient electronic toll system that would eliminate cash payments without creating traffic congestion.
“This is also a platform for me to announce that we will be engaging various private sector participants,” Keyamo stated.
“Mr. President said if we have to pay commission, we have to pay commission, but we’ll bring in private sector participants to help us devise a much more efficient payment system that will still eliminate cash at the gate,” he added.
He noted that the President has asked the ministry to resolve the issue quickly and report back once an improved system has been developed.