More than 100,000 airport access cards have been issued to motorists across the country as part of efforts to implement the Federal Government’s cashless policy at airport tollgates, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, has disclosed.
Kuku revealed on Monday that 62,000 of the cards were issued within just three days of enforcing the cashless policy at airports, a development that turned chaotic as the rollout of the policy at major airports triggered disruptions.
The development comes as motorists have continued to enjoy free access into Nigerian airports for the past five days after President Bola Tinubu ordered that the airport gates be thrown open in response to the disruption caused by the policy’s enforcement.
Recall that attempts to enforce the cashless regime at airport tollgates, effective March 1, led to severe gridlock and confusion, with long queues of vehicles at entry points while many passengers struggled to catch their flights.
Amid public outcry, the President directed that tollgates be opened to allow free passage for motorists as an immediate relief measure.
Speaking on the development and the surge in access card registrations, Kuku acknowledged that the initial enforcement created significant bottlenecks despite prior public awareness campaigns, but also put the number of cards already collected at over 100,000.
She said, “Of course, in the implementation of the cashless policy, it made it quite hectic because a lot of the commuters and even some of the passengers, despite a lot of the awareness, did not believe that we would actually start the enforcement on March 1st. It did create a huge bottleneck over the first few days, but we saw that it actually started to ease up. I gave some interviews yesterday where I reeled out some data from October, when we actually started the implementation, to March 3rd.
“We’ve registered about 100,000 customers, of which 62,000 were actually done in the last three days. In Abuja, for example, we saw the traffic start to ease up. But despite that, we are an airport. And our ultimate goal outside of safety and security is also to make sure that our passengers and the neighbouring areas have a seamless experience. We’re grateful to Mr President. He was able to step in.”
Findings by The PUNCH showed that immediately the directive was issued, officials of FAAN who had been stationed at airport gates to collect tolls vacated the entry points, leaving the barricades open.
A motorist, who identified himself simply as Idris and had been passing through the tollgate after the announcement, confirmed that vehicles were moving freely without payment or checks in the last five days.
Idris said, “I’m surprised. I have been passing through the tollgate for about five days now, and not a single official of FAAN was on the ground. I guess they are restrategising.”
Eyewitnesses noted that the sudden absence of officials created a free flow of traffic at the usually congested tollgates, a sharp contrast to the long queues experienced earlier when the cashless policy was being enforced.
The Federal Government had earlier announced the suspension of the new payment system after the initial rollout sparked confusion and traffic gridlock at major airports, particularly in Lagos and Abuja.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, confirmed the President’s directive while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting.
“Mr President was very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were 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 said.
He added that the President had instructed the ministry and FAAN to temporarily revert to the previous payment arrangement while officials work on a more efficient electronic solution for airport access nationwide.
