President Bola Tinubu has instructed that vehicles in his official motorcade and that of his deputy, Vice-President Kashim Shettima, should henceforth be made to pay the tollgate levies any of the nation’s airports, just likeorher motorsists.
The President made the order as part of his amendment to a memo presented by the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, at the Federal Executive Council (FEC), requiring Very Important Persons (VIPs) and security convoys.
The memo sought exemption for the convoys of the President and Vice-President, but Tinubu insisted that even the exemption be dropped from the memo, which was eventually approved by the FEC.
This much was disclosed by Keyamo on Tuesday while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the two-day FEC meeting chaired by Tinubu on Monday and Tuesday.
The implication is that henceforth, there will be no more fee exemptions granted to any vehicles passing through the airport tollgates operated by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Keyamo had argued at the meeting that the government was losing over 82 percent of the revenue it should have earned from the e-tags that provide access to the toll gates.
The Minister regretted that Very Important Persons (VIPs) with money who should pay are those that have not been paying, while only poorer motorists had been charged for using the toll gates.
He also frowned at the development which seem uniformed officers harass staff of government at the airport gates, and assured the concerned public that cameras would be mounted in strategic positions to capture security personnel who would flout the president’s order.
According to him: “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.
“The negative figure that we get at the end of the day from the complimentary e-tags is 82% in the negative. In other words, where we are supposed to have a 100% from these e-tags that we print, it is only 18% that we now end up selling, as 82% of these e-tags are given out free of charge to VIPs.”
