President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to immediately suspend the controversial cashless policy due to traffic congestion at airports nationwide.
Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace, announced the presidential order while briefing journalists on the outcome of the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by Tinubu regarding his ministry.
The directive comes barely four days after the policy was rolled out, sparking massive gridlock at major airports nationwide.
The policy, launched on March 1, mandated digital payments via ‘Go Cashless’ cards or POS systems for airport access gates, parking, lounges, and other access points — replacing over 50 years of cash collection.
On the first day of implementation, Nigerians reported severe traffic jams at key facilities like Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport and Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, resulting in long queues, stranded motorists, and numerous missed flights.
In a decisive intervention, Tinubu instructed Keyamo and FAAN’s leadership to halt implementation pending a review.
The minister said the president ordered them to “go back to the drawing board” and develop a more people-friendly alternative that balances revenue transparency goals with passenger convenience.
“In the aviation sector, two very important issues arose today. The first one has to do with the present cashless system we introduced at our toll gates across the country in order to eliminate corruption… and optimise revenue for the federal government,” he said.
“You recall that this practice had gone on for more than 50 years with the collection of cash… However, with the introduction of the cashless system less than a week ago, it’s created a lot of gridlock across the country.”
The minister said Tinubu intervened decisively out of empathy for passengers.
“Mr. President was very concerned about the health of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were losing their flights, missing their flights. And so Mr. President, out of empathy, directed today that we should suspend the present system because it creates a lot of ripple, and Nigerians are suffering as a result of it.
“In fact, the president directed me that this should not take too long and I should get back to him on this issue… if possible, even engage the private sector to ensure that we establish an electronic system to the extent that it will not create the gridlock that we’re having right now.”
KEYAMO ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY HYBRID REVENUE COLLECTION APPROACH
Based on the presidential instruction, the minister, therefore, directed FAAN to suspend the cashless process and “go back to the status quo”.
He said for those who already have the FAAN card, “we can do a hybrid system”.
“We’re going to be having a system whereby we can collect cash temporarily and, of course, use the cards that they have collected temporarily for now,” Keyamo said.
“We’ll be engaging with various private sector persons and entities who will be interested in operating the gates for us electronically and collect revenues for the federal government…
“Mr. President said we have to pay commission… but we’ll bring private sector participants to help us devise a much more efficient payment system that will still eliminate cash inflows. And this will be done as quickly as possible.”
Keyamo stressed that the president took the decision to eliminate the present gridlock being experienced, especially at the Lagos toll gates leading to the airport.
“That’s a major reason, not that the president is happy with the cash system, no. It’s just an empathetic decision… to reduce the suffering… that Nigerians are going through right now,” the minister said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Keyamo said his team would review the first seven days of implementation of the cashless payment system to improve the initiative’s efficiency, eliminate corruption, and optimise revenue.
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