The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has stated that the Federal Government would fully implement a cashless payment system across airports operated by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), declaring that there is no reversal of the policy.
Keyamo made this known on Friday during an on-the-spot assessment of operations at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, following the introduction of a temporary hybrid payment system.
The minister explained that the hybrid arrangement was introduced after President BolaTinubu directed the suspension of the strict enforcement of the cashless system due to operational challenges encountered during its rollout.
According to him, the hybrid model allows passengers who previously purchased cashless cards to continue using them, while a limited number of users who are yet to adapt to the system can still make payments in cash temporarily.
“We decided to go back to the drawing board to see what we can do for now first, to ensure revenue collection continues, and secondly, to ease traffic at the payment points,” Keyamo said.
He explained that funds paid through the cards are remitted directly to the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA), ensuring transparency in revenue collection.
“For those who have bought the cards before, once they buy them, the money goes straight into the TSA, the federation account. Those people still have their cards to use,” he said.
Keyamo stressed, however, that the use of cash would only be allowed for a short transition period.
“For those who have not bought the cards and are not accustomed to the system, we are allowing a very minimal number of people to still use cash until we fully migrate to the cashless system. There is no going back on the cashless system,” he said.
The minister also disclosed that the President had given him a deadline to ensure full compliance with the policy, warning that the era of cash collections at airports was ending.
He noted that the Federal Government had already issued a directive prohibiting federal agencies from collecting cash.
Keyamo added that discussions were ongoing with concessionaires to fully automate airport payment systems, a move he said would eliminate corruption and improve efficiency.
“It breeds corruption for us to continue to collect cash. For the past 50 years FAAN has collected cash at various points and people are used to that system. But we will not allow it to continue,” he said.
He further stated that he had taken direct responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the policy to ensure compliance across all airports.
The minister said the hybrid arrangement would only serve as a temporary measure before the full transition to a fully automated and electronic payment system at Nigerian airports.
