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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
President Bola Tinubu and the Vice President Kashim Shettima will pay airport access toll and parking fees at any of the nation’s airports going forward.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, disclosed this to newsmen after Tuesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
According to Keyamo, FEC approved a memorandum from the Ministry of Aviation scrapping toll exemptions for all very important persons (VIPs) and government officials using the airports.
The minister argued that government was losing over 82 per cent of the revenue it should have earned from the e-tags that provide access to the airports.
He explained that the memoranda had initially recommended an exemption for the president and vice president. However, Tinubu overruled the recommendation, insisting that he and the vice president alongside their aides must pay tolls.
“Our memo says ‘with the exception of the President and the Vice President’. But the President overruled me and said he and the Vice President will pay, he said everybody will pay,” Keyamo said.
The minister lamented that VIPs who have the money to pay tolls are evading payment, leaving the authorities to rely on charges gotten from the poor.
“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 and my team, I said not under my watch. It will not happen,” he said.
Keyamo vowed to end episodes where uniform officers harass airport staff at the gates, assuring citizens that more cameras would be planted in strategic positions to capture those culpable.
He said the Federal Government stands to generate N10 billion annually from tolls, even as it considers a rebate for military veterans.