President Bola Tinubu has ordered the suspension of the recently introduced cashless payment system at airport toll gates nationwide following widespread traffic congestion that left many passengers stranded and missing 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. He explained that the President directed an immediate return to the previous system pending the development of a more efficient alternative.
According to Keyamo, the President was deeply concerned about the hardship experienced by travellers, particularly those who missed scheduled flights due to hours-long traffic delays at airport entrances.
He clarified that the primary reason for the suspension was to ease the heavy gridlock recorded at the Lagos and Abuja airport toll gates, stressing that the decision was not an endorsement of cash transactions but a temporary measure to address the crisis.
The cashless system, introduced less than a week ago by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), was designed to curb corruption and improve revenue collection at toll gates and other payment points across airports nationwide. For over five decades, FAAN had relied on cash collections from motorists at toll gates and parking facilities.
However, the sudden transition triggered massive traffic congestion along airport access roads, with numerous travellers taking to social media to share videos of long queues stretching several kilometres.
Keyamo disclosed that the President has instructed the ministry to urgently review and refine the system, including exploring private sector partnerships to develop a seamless electronic payment framework that would eliminate cash without creating traffic bottlenecks.
In the interim, a hybrid system will be implemented, allowing motorists to pay with cash while also using prepaid FAAN cards already purchased by some users.
The minister further revealed that private sector operators may be engaged — even on a commission basis — to deploy a more efficient and technology-driven payment platform capable of ensuring transparency and smooth traffic flow.
Although no timeline was given for the reintroduction of an improved cashless system, Keyamo stressed that the President expects a swift resolution.
The Lagos and Abuja airports, which handle the highest passenger volumes in the country, were the worst affected by the disruption, with travellers reportedly arriving several hours ahead of departure times to avoid missing their flights.
While FAAN had defended the cashless initiative as a move to plug revenue leakages and enhance accountability through real-time tracking, inadequate infrastructure and poor implementation ultimately led to operational chaos, prompting the President’s intervention.
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