Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, yesterday said there was no going back on the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) cashless policy across major airports in Nigeria.
Keyamo made this assertion at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja, during his on the spot assessment following implementation of the hybrid system the country adopted following Mr President’s directive to suspend the strict application of the cashless system because of its challenges. He said: “We decided to go back to the drawing boards to see what we can do for now.
“One, to still make sure we collect revenue. And, to ensure that we ease the traffic. And that is why we came up with this hybrid system now. “So for those who have bought the cards before, the cashless cards, that once they buy the cards, go straight into TSA, the federation account.”
He added: “Those people still have their cards to use. For those who have not bought and who are not accustomed to the new system, we allow them a very minimal number of people to still use cash until we fully migrate to the cashless system. “Look, there is no going back to the cashless system.
“For those who think they can frustrate the cashless system because they like the system of collection of cash, we have passed that stage. “In fact, there is a federal government directive memo on it saying that no federal agency should ever collect cash. “So, we have very limited time to do this hybrid system.”
Speaking further, Keyamo asserted, “We are going to go cashless. “In fact, at the last Federal Reserve Council meeting, Mr President gave me a deadline. “He was very clear.
“He was very clear that I have a deadline. He said, Minister of Aviation, you have a deadline to go fully cashless. “And the moment Mr President has pushed me; I will also push those under me. Before Mr President sacks me, I will sack other people too.
