President Bola Tinubu has mandated the immediate suspension of the recently implemented cashless payment system across Nigeria's federal airports. The decisive move, announced on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, follows approximately one week of severe passenger distress and systemic gridlock that disrupted the nation's air travel network.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, conveyed the President's directive to State House correspondents in Abuja. Keyamo stated that President Tinubu was "deeply concerned about the welfare of Nigerians," particularly the widespread incidence of passengers missing flights due to the system's failures. Acting out of empathy for the public's suffering, the President ordered the ministry to halt the current implementation immediately.
A Well-Intentioned Policy Gone Awry
Minister Keyamo acknowledged that the cashless policy was initially designed to eliminate long-standing corruption and optimize government revenue—a practice he noted had persisted for over five decades. However, its rollout proved disastrous, generating crippling congestion at airport access points and terminals nationwide within less than two weeks.
Directive: Revert and Refine
President Tinubu's specific instruction was for the aviation authorities to revert to the status quo ante—the system that was operational before the cashless initiative. The suspension is not a cancellation but a pause; the President directed officials to "work on perfecting it as soon as possible" and report back once a more robust and passenger-friendly solution is engineered.
The core of the presidential intervention, as relayed by Keyamo, was the unacceptable hardship inflicted on ordinary Nigerians. The policy's technical and procedural failures created bottlenecks that prevented citizens from accessing the essential service of air travel, prompting this urgent executive review. This action underscores the administration's stated commitment to responsive governance, even when it means reversing a recently launched program.
