The cashless airport toll gate payment system introduced by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has been suspended by President Bola Tinubu.
At the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held on Wednesday in Abuja, Mr Tinubu directed the agency to immediately return to the status quo, pending the development of a more efficient system.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, who announced the suspension after the FEC meeting today, said the action followed gridlock that trailed the new system, which caused passengers to miss their flights.
FAAN had commenced the cashless payment system for airport toll gates across the country in a bid to block revenue leakages and adopt an electronic payment system instead of cash.
But this policy caused traffic gridlock at several airports, especially those in Lagos and Abuja.
“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,” Mr Keyamo informed newsmen.
“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 Minister further said the President directed stakeholders to “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.”
“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,” Mr Keyamo added.