Tinubu halts FAAN’s cashless policy amid pain for airport users
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday ordered the immediate suspension of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) cashless policy.
The directive was announced by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, following a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House in Abuja.
The policy, which was fully implemented on March 1, 2026, caused massive vehicular gridlock at major hubs such as Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (Abuja). Many passengers missed their flights due to the delays at the airport toll gates.
To ease the chaos, the President directed a return to a hybrid arrangement. For now, motorists can use both cash and the “Go Cashless” cards or POS systems.
While the administration remains committed to eliminating cash-handling to reduce corruption and optimise revenue, the President emphasised that the system must not come at the expense of citizen welfare or operational efficiency.
Keyamo stated that the ministry will return to the drawing board to develop a more seamless electronic solution, likely involving private-sector participation to improve the technology and user experience.
Prior to the suspension, FAAN had issued over 70,000 “Go Cashless” cards, but the reliance on POS systems for unregistered users—often hampered by network issues—was a primary cause of the congestion.
For many travellers and stakeholders at Nigeria’s major gateways, the shift marked by significant pain points, including technical failures and logistical bottlenecks.
Like any systemic overhaul in a nation of 200 million, the transition is proving to be a high-stakes balancing act between modernisation and terminal-side chaos.
Despite the lofty goals, the rollout on Sunday, March 1, was anything but seamless. At the MMIA toll gate in Lagos, queues stretched back several metres, with some travellers reportedly abandoning their cars to catch flights on the back of Okadas (commercial motorcycles) that charged a 200% premium.
Olu Majekodunmi, a frequent traveller stranded in the Sunday gridlock, said, “Nobody is against progress, but you don’t introduce a system that prevents people from catching flights”.
He said airports are time-sensitive environments; every minute of a glitch is a missed connection.
He further stated that effective change management requires public education campaigns, multiple payment options during the transition, robust system testing under peak conditions, and visible on-the-ground support teams to guide users.
Digital transformation at critical infrastructure points such as airports, he said, must be frictionless, resilient, and customer-centric, with efficiency as the goal.
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