JUST IN: Tinubu suspends cashless airport toll gate system over gridlock

President Bola Tinubu has suspended the cashless payment system at airport toll gates across the country following widespread gridlock that has 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 directed an immediate return to the status quo while a more efficient system 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.

“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 emphasised that the major reason for the suspension was to eliminate the 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.

“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 eliminate corruption and optimise revenue collection at toll gates operated by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria across the country.

For over 50 years, FAAN had collected cash from motorists at toll gates, parking lots, and other collection points at airports nationwide.

However, the transition to the cashless system led to massive traffic congestion on airport access roads, with passengers reporting hours-long delays and missed flights.

Keyamo disclosed that President Tinubu has directed the ministry to return to the drawing board and perfect the system.

“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 announced that a hybrid system would be implemented temporarily, allowing both cash payments and the use of FAAN cards already purchased by 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,” Keyamo said.

The minister revealed that the government would engage private sector participants to develop a more efficient payment system that eliminates cash at the gates without causing traffic congestion.

“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 cashless system had required motorists to obtain prepaid cards or use electronic payment platforms before accessing airport toll gates, but the implementation created bottlenecks as many users struggled with the new payment methods.

Airport users had complained on social media about spending hours in traffic trying to access the airports, with some posting videos of the massive gridlock extending several kilometres from the toll gates.

The Lagos and Abuja airports, which handle the country’s highest passenger traffic, were particularly affected, with travellers arriving several hours earlier than usual to avoid missing their flights.

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The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria had justified the cashless policy as part of efforts to block revenue leakages and ensure transparency in toll collection, noting that the cash-based system had been prone to fraud and underremittance over the decades.

The suspended system was expected to provide real-time revenue tracking and eliminate opportunities for diversion by collection agents.

However, the poor implementation and inadequate infrastructure for seamless electronic payments led to operational chaos.

The minister did not provide a specific timeline for when the improved cashless system would be reintroduced, but emphasised that the President wants the issue resolved urgently.