Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo has declared that Nigeria’s airports are on an irreversible path to a fully cashless payment system, dismissing any notion of retreat despite a brief rollback prompted by public hardship.
During an on-the-spot inspection on Friday at the tollgate of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Keyamo personally assessed the newly introduced hybrid payment arrangement, a stopgap measure allowing both cash and electronic transactions.
The minister made it unequivocally clear: the hybrid phase is strictly temporary, designed to smooth the transition while authorities finalize a seamless, automated platform.
“The hybrid system is only a bridge,” Keyamo stated pointedly. “There is no going back on the cashless system. For those who think they can frustrate the cashless system because they prefer the traditional cash collection method, we have passed that stage.”
The policy’s origins trace back to a broader federal directive mandating that no government agency collect physical cash, aligning with Nigeria’s ongoing drive toward a digital economy. Keyamo emphasized that this is not merely an aviation initiative but a compliance issue rooted in presidential and executive council instructions.
He revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu personally issued him a strict deadline during the most recent Federal Executive Council meeting. “Mr. President gave me a deadline. He was very clear that I have a deadline to go fully cashless,” Keyamo recounted. He said, ‘Minister of Aviation, you have a deadline to go fully cashless,’ and the moment Mr. President pushes me, I will also push those under me.”
In a stark warning to potential saboteurs within the system, the minister added, “Before Mr. President sacks me, I will sack other people too.” He stressed personal accountability, noting that while implementation had previously been delegated to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), he is now exercising direct oversight. “As the minister, I take full responsibility, and I have to take full control,” he asserted.
To accelerate public adoption, Keyamo directed FAAN to structure digital payments to be cheaper than cash options, a deliberate incentive to shift behavior away from old habits.
He also highlighted plans to engage private concessionaires to deliver a fully automated system, aiming to eliminate longstanding vulnerabilities in cash handling that have persisted for decades.
The cashless push initially launched on March 1, 2026, but encountered immediate backlash when motorists faced severe gridlock due to limited card availability and technical hitches.
President Tinubu responded by suspending the strict cashless enforcement in early March, ordering a return to the drawing board to avoid undue pressure on citizens. The hybrid model, reinstated as of March 13, was introduced precisely to alleviate congestion while preserving the policy’s core objective: plugging revenue leakages, curbing corruption, and channeling funds directly into the national treasury.
Keyamo’s visit also addressed another persistent drain on airport revenues: VIP privileges at tollgates. He announced their immediate suspension, lamenting that “half our revenue” has been lost to unofficial exemptions for influential figures. ” We must not do VIP here again,” he said, underscoring that the era of preferential treatment for “big men” often carrying federal titles is over.
As Nigeria’s aviation sector pushes toward modernization, the minister’s message is unambiguous: the hybrid arrangement offers breathing room, but the destination remains a completely digital framework across all airport revenue points.
With presidential pressure mounting and timelines tight, officials now face heightened scrutiny to deliver or risk consequences from the top down.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Nigeria’s airports are heading irreversibly toward a fully cashless payment system.
Despite the current temporary hybrid (cash + electronic) arrangement at tollgates and other revenue points, Minister Festus Keyamo has made it crystal clear: there is no going back.
President Tinubu has personally set a strict deadline for complete implementation, officials face direct accountability (with sackings promised for delays), and the federal directive banning cash collection by government agencies remains firmly in place.
The hybrid phase exists only to ease the transition—the end goal is 100% digital payments across all Nigerian airport facilities.
