Motorists and passengers experienced severe traffic gridlock around the Lagos airport corridor on Sunday as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) fully enforced its cashless payment policy at toll points, triggering congestion that disrupted movement and forced some travellers to miss flights.
The policy, which bars cash payments and requires motorists to use payment cards or debit cards, led to long delays due to payment bottlenecks and slow processing at the toll gates. Businesses around the airport reported reduced patronage as vehicles remained stuck for hours amid heavy traffic buildup.
According to FAAN’s Director of Public Affairs, Henry Agbebire, the authority had launched the cashless card six months earlier and conducted public sensitisation, but many motorists delayed registration until implementation day. He said the agency set up temporary registration centres near the toll area to ease the process and acknowledged the disruption while apologising for the inconvenience.
Agbebire explained that the cashless policy follows a federal directive requiring all revenue points nationwide to stop accepting cash payments. He added that additional staff were deployed to assist motorists with registration and card activation, while efforts were made to improve traffic flow.
Despite these measures, gridlock reportedly worsened in the following days, with congestion extending further along access roads, raising concerns about the infrastructure capacity needed to effectively sustain the new payment system.
