President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday ordered the immediate suspension of the recently introduced cashless payment system at airports nationwide following widespread complaints that the policy had caused severe congestion and hardship for travellers.
The directive came barely a week after the system was implemented, with reports indicating that long queues and payment bottlenecks at airport gates had led to significant delays, causing several passengers to miss their flights.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, disclosed the development while briefing journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and presided over by the President.
According to Keyamo, Tinubu instructed the ministry to immediately revert to the previous payment arrangement while officials work on designing a more efficient system that would not disrupt passenger movement.
“The President directed me to go back to the drawing board,” the minister said. “We should revert to the status quo and suspend the present system whereby people have to pay through the various means we introduced at the gates across the country.”
He added that the President stressed the need for a quick redesign of the electronic payment framework to prevent future congestion at airport entry points.
“In fact, the President directed that this should not take too long and that I should get back to him on this issue,” Keyamo said.
The minister further explained that the Federal Government may consider engaging the private sector to develop a seamless electronic collection system that will enable airport authorities to process payments efficiently without creating traffic bottlenecks.
“We should go back and, if possible, even engage the private sector to ensure we establish an electronic system by which we can collect this money at the gates without the gridlock we are witnessing right now,” he added.
Following the presidential directive, Keyamo said all relevant agencies in the aviation sector have been instructed to suspend the current payment process with immediate effect while consultations begin on a more workable solution.
The cashless payment system was introduced as part of efforts to modernise airport operations and improve revenue collection, but its rollout quickly drew criticism from travellers who complained of slow processing, network failures and long queues at airport gates.
