Many Nigerians travelling to domestic destinations from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos missed their flights on Sunday due to traffic gridlock caused by the introduction of cashless system at the toll gates, linking 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 their travellers did not have the newly introduced access card, forcing the toll collectors to resort to payment through POS.
FAAN had on Friday announced designated pick-up points for its Go-Cashless cards ahead of the March 1 deadline.
FAAN had earlier stated that from February 28, all cash collections will stop and new cashless policy to commence.
The traffic started building up from 7 & 8 bus stop along airport road, forming heavy traffic jam at the area near mobile and from there to the toll gate; that some vehicles carrying travellers to the domestic wing of the airport had to spend over one hour waiting to make payment and go through the gate.
The protocol was stymied by network issues and server timeouts. These led to protracted delays, leaving travellers frustrated by a system that seemed unprepared for peak-hour volume.
A visit by BusinessDay to Lagos airport tollgates on Sunday showed the toll gates and roads leading to the airport were blocked as passengers expressed their displeasure and fear of missing their flights.
Those who are yet to obtain their cards were asked to park their vehicles to get the cards around designated areas close to the access gates.
At the registration booths, there are also queues of people waiting to get their cards, while those registering battled with technology glitches, further slowing the process.
“Whenever the gridlock becomes too much, our senior officials will tell us to open the barriers so that people will just go without paying,” a FAAN staff who would not want to be mentioned told BusinessDay.
“People also have to process the payments even if they have the cards. When they get to the gate, whether it is the cashless terminal or the POS, there are a few things that still need to be done. As opposed to cash that was faster where you pay and leave, for this, sometimes network becomes an issue,” the staff explained.
Henry Agbebire, FAAN Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection told BusinessDay that FAAN had earlier tried to inform people where to get the access cards but many people waited for last minutes and this is causing gridlock.
He said a lot of people had to register today to get the card and had to go through some tech processes.
“The cards are available. So when you get a card, you can just scan the QR code. So it takes you to ‘go cashless’ showing a link where you can register and upload payment.
“You can just load your card with maybe N2,000 and that can take you through the gate quite a couple of times before you load again. The idea is just to block leakages and align with the federal government’s directive to ensure that revenues are collected through cashless mode,” Agbebire explained.
He said there are areas close to the toll gate for those coming into the airport and leaving to register and get their cards.
He said the gridlock at the airport is caused by people who park their cars to register for the access card and those who are making payments at the toll gates through POS.
