President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, will now pay the required toll whenever they use the gates at Airports.
Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, disclosed this to journalists, on Tuesday, after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting chaired by Tinubu at the presidential villa in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Keyamo said, he presented two memos which were approved by the council adding that Airport users will no more be exempted from paying tolls.
The minister also said the initial tradition was to exempt only the president and the vice-president, however, Tinubu overruled, saying no one should be exempted.
According to Keyamo, the government was losing over 82 percent of the revenue it should have earned from the access fee.
“No more exemption. When we came to office, we met a tradition on the ground where at the end of the year, all manners of VIPs would approach us for what they call complimentary e-tags or complimentary stickers. Whereby you see them coming into our airports nationwide,” he said.
“They don’t pay the access fees. They don’t pay for parking, they don’t pay for essential services at airports, and they are VIPs. And I told myself on my team, I said not under my watch. It will not happen.
“If this tradition has been existing for years, I will not allow it to happen. Because it is inconceivable that in our country it is the VIPs that don’t pay for services but it is the poor men that pay for services.
“The VIPs were supposed to have money to pay for services but they compel poor men to pay for services.
“Our memo says with the exception of the president and the vice president. And the president overruled me and said he and the vice president will pay, he said everybody.”
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