Many travellers to domestic destinations from Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, missed their flights Sunday due to traffic gridlock caused by the introduction of a cashless system at the toll gate linking the international wing of the airport to the domestic wing.
There was delay in the payment process, as the toll gate officials refused cash payment and many of the travellers did not have the newly introduced access card, forcing the toll collectors to resort to payment through POS.
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) last year introduced cashless payment in its revenue points and gave the time line when it would migrate from cash payment to cashless payment at the Lagos airport, which started Sunday.
The traffic started building up from 7 & 8 Bus Stop, along the airport road, forming heavy traffic jam around Mobile Filling Station, and from there to the tool gate.
Some commuters to the domestic wing of the airport spent over one hour waiting to make payment and go through the gate.
An eye witness, Mr. Bassey Udosen, who wanted to travel to Uyo with a 3:15 pm Ibom flight, said he left his Ikoyi residence by 1pm, knowing the light traffic usually on Sundays and projected that he would be at the domestic airport, MMA2, before 2pm.
But Udosen was caught up in the gridlock.
He stated, “I joined the queue near that Mobil Filling Station and it took me a long time to reach the toll gate. At the toll gate, I noticed that people were bringing out their ATM cards and I wondered why. I brought out cash and wanted to pay for even other vehicles in front of me; so that we could move quickly, but the toll gate officials told me they did not accept cash anymore.
“Then I brought out my card and paid N10, 000 for about eight of us; so that we could keep moving. They have increased the toll: N1000 for SUVs and N500 for cars. But at that end of the day, I missed my flight. By the time I arrived at the terminal, the airline said they had ended processing passengers for Uyo flight. A lot of other passengers missed their flights, too.”
Udosen told THISDAY, “I think this was not publicised enough and there were quicker ways this could have been done to make it faster; so that motorists could spend seconds making the payment.
“We have Opay, Moniepoint, Pampay and others. We have advanced technology now; so, this should not be difficult to do,”
Mr. Udosen said that on his way back from the domestic wing after he had missed his flight, he found out that the gate was opened for everyone to drive through. He said the cashless payment would need to be reviewed.
“That shows that FAAN is losing money,” he said.
An official of FAAN, who worked at the toll gate, told THISDAY that the agency publicised the migration to cashless payment and also publicised the access card that could be purchased by motorists that frequently used the toll gate for easy payment
The official, who preferred anonymity, stated, “I think what happened was that we tried to publicise this as possible as we could, but you know, a lot of people want to wait to last minute before they get their card.
“The implementation of the cashless programme started today. So, nobody passed through the toll gate and paid cash. This led to some traffic jam. A lot of people started registering to get a card.
“The cards are available and they give easy access. So, when you get a card, you can just scan the QR code. It takes you to go cashless at faan.gov.ng. You now register. You can upload payment.”
The official added, “Today, there’s a canopy close to the toll gate. Those that are coming from Oshodi just cross over to do it. Those that are coming from local airport end, they can just drive into the school and get their cards.
“Some have to park or go somewhere to do that. Okay. Because of this whole thing, there’s a lot of gridlock there. We’ve been appealing to them. We had to give a notice to appeal to people and reiterate the need for the cashless system. So, we have something out there.
“We don’t have a problem with cards as far as I’m concerned. We have enough cards for people. We accept POS, but POS is slowing down the traffic, but we try to encourage more people to just go get a card. The card is available. The card is free, but when you load your 2,000 or 1,000, there is a N500 that goes off for maintenance.”
Chinedu Eze
Follow us on:
