Abuja, Nigeria — President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria has ordered the suspension of a newly introduced cashless payment system at airport toll gates across the country after severe traffic congestion caused passengers to miss their flights.
The decision was announced on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, by Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, following a meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the State House in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The Federal Executive Council is the country’s top executive decision-making body, chaired by the President.
Keyamo said the President directed an immediate return to the previous payment arrangement while authorities work on a more efficient electronic system.
“Mr. President was very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and the fact that most Nigerians were losing their flights, 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 stated.
The cashless system had been introduced less than one week earlier by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the government agency responsible for managing Nigeria’s commercial airports. The policy required motorists to use prepaid access cards or electronic payment platforms to pass through toll gates at airport entrances nationwide.
For more than 50 years, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria had relied on physical cash collection at airport toll gates, car parks, and other payment points. The transition to a cashless model was designed to reduce corruption, block revenue leakages, and improve transparency through real-time electronic tracking of toll collections.
However, the sudden implementation led to massive traffic congestion, particularly at the country’s two busiest airports in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub in the south west, and Abuja, the federal capital territory in central Nigeria. Many travellers reported spending several hours in traffic queues stretching several kilometres from airport entrances.
Okay News reports that social media was flooded with videos and complaints from passengers who said they arrived at the airports far earlier than usual but still missed their flights due to the gridlock.
Keyamo clarified that the President’s decision was primarily aimed at resolving the traffic crisis, not abandoning the broader goal of eliminating cash handling.
“The major reason why Mr. President took this decision is to eliminate the present gridlock that we are experiencing, especially at both the Lagos and Abuja toll gates leading to the airport.
“That’s the major reason, not that the President is happy with the cash system,” the minister clarified.
To ease the situation immediately, the government will introduce a temporary hybrid arrangement. Under this system, motorists will be allowed to pay with cash while those who have already purchased prepaid cards can continue to use them.
“We are going to do a hybrid system whereby we can collect cash temporarily and, of course, use the cards that they have collected temporarily for now,” Keyamo said.
The minister also disclosed that the President has instructed the ministry to urgently redesign the system and consider engaging private sector operators with technical expertise in electronic payments and traffic management.
“In fact, the President directed me that this should not take too long. It should not take too long, and I should get back to him on this issue.
“We should go back and, if possible, even engage the private sector to ensure that we establish an electronic system by which we can collect these revenues for the federal government at the gates, to the extent that it will not create the gridlock that we are having right now,” the minister stated.
He added that private companies may be paid commissions if necessary to ensure the development of a more efficient model.
“This is also a platform for me to announce that we will be engaging various private sector participants.
“Mr. President said if we have to pay commission, we have to pay commission, but we’ll bring in private sector participants to help us devise a much more efficient payment system that will still eliminate cash at the gate,” he stated.
The suspended system had been expected to modernise revenue collection and reduce fraud linked to manual toll operations. However, inadequate infrastructure and limited user readiness resulted in operational disruption.
The minister did not provide a specific date for reintroducing an improved cashless model but emphasised that the President wants the matter resolved urgently to prevent further disruption to domestic and international air travel.
