President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the suspension of the newly introduced cashless payment system at airport toll gates nationwide following widespread gridlock that left many passengers stranded and forced several to miss their flights.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced the decision on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House in Abuja.
According to the minister, the President directed an immediate return to the previous payment system while authorities work on a more efficient alternative.
“Mr. President was very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were losing their flights, missing their flights,” Keyamo said.
“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 explained that the decision was primarily aimed at resolving severe traffic congestion recorded at the airport access toll gates 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. That’s the major reason, not that the President is happy with the cash system,” he added.
The cashless system had been introduced less than a week earlier by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria after decades of collecting physical cash at toll gates, parking areas, and other payment points across the country’s airports.
However, the rollout triggered severe traffic congestion on airport access roads as motorists struggled to obtain prepaid cards or navigate electronic payment platforms required to gain entry.
Keyamo said the President had directed the ministry to “return to the drawing board” and redesign the system to avoid a repeat of the disruption.
“In fact, the President directed me that this should not take too long, and I should get back to him on this issue,” the minister stated.
He revealed that a temporary hybrid payment arrangement would now be implemented, allowing motorists to pay either with cash or with prepaid cards already issued by FAAN.
The government also plans to engage private sector participants to design a more efficient electronic payment system that eliminates cash transactions without causing traffic bottlenecks.
“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,” Keyamo said.
The initial rollout of the cashless policy led to widespread complaints on social media, with airport users sharing videos showing kilometres-long traffic queues and reporting hours of delay while attempting to access airport terminals.
