UPDATED: TINUBU SUSPENDS AIRPORT CASHLESS TOLL SYSTEM OVER GRIDLOCK, ORDERS REVIEW
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By ‘Leke Yusuf
President Bola Tinubu has suspended the cashless payment system at airport toll gates nationwide following widespread gridlock that caused passengers to miss their flights.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced the suspension on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja.
He said the President ordered an immediate return to the previous arrangement pending the development of a more efficient system.
“Mr. President was very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were losing their flights, missing their flights.
“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,” Keyamo stated.
He explained that the primary reason for the suspension was to ease traffic congestion at the Lagos and Abuja airport tollgates.
“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,” the minister clarified.
The cashless system was introduced less than a week ago to curb corruption and improve revenue collection at toll gates managed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria across the country.
For more than 50 years, FAAN had collected cash from motorists at toll gates, parking lots and other payment points at airports nationwide.
However, the transition triggered heavy traffic congestion on airport access roads, with passengers reporting prolonged delays and missed flights.
Keyamo said President Tinubu had directed the ministry to review and refine the system without delay.
“In fact, the President directed me that this should not take too long. It should not take too long, and I should get back to him on this issue.
“We should go back and, if possible, even engage the private sector to ensure that we establish an electronic system by which we can collect these revenues for the federal government at the gates, to the extent that it will not create the gridlock that we are having right now,” the minister stated.
He added that a temporary hybrid arrangement would allow both cash payments and the continued use of FAAN prepaid cards.
“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,” Keyamo said.
The minister further disclosed plans to collaborate with private sector participants to design a more effective system.
“This is also a platform for me to announce that we will be engaging various private sector participants.
“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 stated.
The suspended policy had required motorists to obtain prepaid cards or use electronic payment platforms before accessing airport toll gates. Its rollout, however, led to bottlenecks as many users struggled with the new process.
Airport users took to social media to complain about spending hours in traffic, with some sharing videos of congestion stretching several kilometres from toll gates.
The Lagos and Abuja airports, which handle the highest passenger volumes in the country, were particularly affected, forcing travellers to arrive much earlier than usual to avoid missing flights.
FAAN had defended the cashless initiative as a measure to curb revenue leakages and enhance transparency, noting that the cash-based system had been susceptible to fraud and underremittance over the years.
Although the policy was expected to enable real-time revenue tracking and reduce diversion, inadequate infrastructure and poor implementation led to operational disruption.
The minister did not specify when the improved cashless system would be reintroduced but stressed that the President wants the matter addressed urgently.
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