By Abiola Olawale
President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima will now be required to pay tollgate fees when using airports in Nigeria.
The decision was reached during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which was held on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.
During the meeting, the FEC approved that there should be no more exemptions granted to users of the airports from paying tollgate fees.
The approval was granted after the council received a memorandum from the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo (SAN). He argued that the government was losing over 82% of the revenue it should have earned from the e-tags that provide access to the tollgates.
Keyamo explained that the memos initially prescribed an exemption for only the president and the vice president before Tinubu overruled, and directed that both of them should be included among those who must pay.
Keyamo, at the post-FEC media briefing, regretted that wealthy Very Important Persons (VIPs), who should pay, are those who have not been paying.
The minister said only poor people had been charged for using the tollgates, “a situation that must stop,” he said.
