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President Bola Tinubu has suspended the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)’s recently implemented cashless payment system at airport toll gates.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced the suspension on Wednesday following the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House in Abuja.
“Mr. President was very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were losing their flights, missing their flights,” said Keyamo.
“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.”
FAAN eliminated all cash transactions at airport access gates, car parks, and executive lounges nationwide, requiring digital payments only under its “Go Cashless” initiative, causing gridlock at tollgates at Lagos and Abuja airports.
According to Keyamo, the suspension was to eliminate gridlock at the Lagos and Abuja airport toll gates.
“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,” he added.
“That’s the major reason, not that the President is happy with the cash system.”
Keyamo added that Tinubu has instructed the agency to perfect the system, adding that a hybrid system would be implemented temporarily.
“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.
