By Latef Aegbite
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who incidentally was a former governor of Lagos state, appears determined to source for internally Generated Revenue, IGR, through increased taxes and ensuring that VIPs settle their toll payments at the country’s airports access gates to use its facilities. Over the years, the VIPs, who have the resources to settle their toll payments at the airport access gates were said to have been getting Complimentary e-tags and tickets from the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under the close watch of Olayemi Michael Cardoso, on the recommendations of Nuhu Ribadu, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, rtd, and a former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and now, National Security Adviser, NSA, may have tested the waters with the introduction of the cyber security Levy.
The levy had been set at N0.5 for every customer’s electronic Financial transactions with the money deposit Banks, MDB, Mobile Money Operators, MMO, and Payment Service Providers, PSP, within the 36 states of the Federation, and Abuja, the FCT, to be managed by the office of the NSA.
Nigerians from all walks of life including the Organised Labour, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, had kicked against it, forcing the Nigerian President, to make a U-turn to suspend the CBN, policy. This may have encouraged the government policy makers to go back to the drawing board to review the toll payment at the country’s access gate to each of the 24 airports across the country and the FCT.
. As a prelude to the introduction of the e-tags payments, Festus Keyamo, minister of Aviation and Aerospace, who had recently given hint that Emirates airline , will resume l flights from October 1, 2024, operating a daily service between Lagos and Dubai, its hub, in the United Arab Emirate, UAE, using Boeing 777-3000ER series, had revealed that ‘’under the Tinubu’s Administration, there will be no exemptions to payment of toll at the access gates to the country’s airports irrespective of the person’s position in government, both at the state or Federal levels.
Keyamo was said to have made it clear to those that cares to listen that payment of airport access gate toll is going to be for everyone including the Nigeria President and the Vice President, meaning that the incumbent President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the ministers including other top government functionaries will pay the airport access gate toll.
A source told The Value News that in the eight years of former President Muhammdu Buhari’s Administration, the VIPs were given complimentary e-tags and stickers , to use which gives them direct access to the country’s airports to use its facilities free of charge, thus depleting the country’s revenue that ought to be collected by FAAN and paid into the Federation account on a monthly basis.
The Aviation and aerospace, minister who could not his feelings had said that ‘’it was unacceptable for wealthy Nigerians, who has the wherewithal to fly embark on both local and international flights on a regular basis to receive complimentary e-tags that gives them free passage to the country’s airports while ordinary Nigerians pay full fees at the access gates. The Edo state politician had said that the first approval sought by the ministry from the Federal Executive Council, FEC, was to obtain the respect of the mandatory payments by the VIPs that are no used to making such payments for the airports services to agree to have agreed to pay.
He had said that ‘’the present Administration had inherited a tradition from the fprevious Administration where at the end of the year,’’ all manners of VIPs would approach FAAN, for complimentary e-tags and stickers’’ in order to gain access to the country’s airports and use its’ facilities.
The legal was said to have given an instance of one of the country’s busiest airport’s access gates that was supposed to generate between N250 million and N260 million on a monthly basis during the Buhari’s Administration but was returning less than N100 million due to the exemptions It was not surprising why he had said that the Nigerian government was losing over 82% of the revenue it should have earned from the nation’s access gate fee during Buhari’s regime.
This may have informed why Shehu Gabam, Chairman, of the Opposition Social Democratic Party, SDP, had described ‘’the Buhari’s Administration as one of the worst that Nigeria has ever had’’. The SDP, Chairman had said that the former Lagos state governor had inherited a terrible economy from Buhari and has no option but to overburden Nigerian with his taxes and levies to raise money to run the government.
He had said that what the Nigerian President who is still struggling to revive the comatose economy needed to do is ‘’to get strategic thinkers, that will facilitate the strategic applications and strategic implementation of the government monetary and fiscal policies’’
Given the seriousness that had been attached to the collection of the undisclosed tolls at the access gates to the various airports across the country by customers to use its facilities this time around, may have informed why the minister had expedited action to influence the FEC, to give approval to the ministry’s request. He had his way.
He may have done his homework with the ministry officials to ensure that the ministry’s initiative will not be opposed by Labour when he made it clear from the onset ‘’nobody is exempted from paying the toll at the access gate to gain entrance into any of the country’s airports‘’.
A statement by FAAN, on Friday, May 12, 2024, had said that the e-tags toll what had been introduced by the agency on the orders of the President, had made it mandatory that all motorists who ply the airports pay for the e-tags at all the airports gates across the country from Friday, May 17, 2024
The e-tags payment, according to the minister are to be obtained from Murtala Muhammed Airports, Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre, HOD Commercial office,, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, at the FCT, HOD Commercial office.
Already, the Authorities of FAAN, had made it clear to motorists without e-tags that they have the option of making such payments in cash or through POS, at the access gate to any of the designated 24 airports and five international airports across the country. Vintage Keyamo.
