President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the airport cashless payment policy of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) over traffic gridlock and missed flights.
This was made known on Wednesday by the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by the president.
He said, “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 optimize revenue for the federal government.
"Mr. President was very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were losing their flights, missing their flights. To the extent that it will not create the gridlock that we are having right now, the system is hereby suspended.”
Recall that FAAN kicked off its cashless policy at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on March 1, 2026.
However, since its launch, pictures circulated online of gridlocks at access gates of the affected airports with some passengers stuck there for a long time and thereby causing some to miss their flights.
In response to this, FAAN deployed additional personnel and increased registration points, amongst other interventions.
FAAN launched the policy with the aim of ending cash payments at key points and projected the pilot phase would boost revenue by 50%.