There was gridlock at the tollgate area of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, yesterday, following the commencement of a new cashless payment policy by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for vehicles accessing the airport area.

Hundreds of motorists and air travellers were trapped in the chaos, which affected traffic in and out of the airport.

The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN, Henry Agbebire, said that the cashless policy was to block leakages in the system.

Some passengers were seen abandoning their vehicles for motorcycles in order not to miss their flights.

Also, the banned motorcyclists seized the opportunity to make brisk business as they inflated prices by about 200 per cent for desperate travellers.

Some of the motorists were stuck at a spot for almost 20 minutes for a journey of less than a minute.

The tollgate serves as a major access route to the domestic and international wings of the Lagos airport.

The Guardian observed that some of the motorists engaged in heated arguments with tollgate officials over failed transfers and delays in payment confirmation.

They accused FAAN of causing unnecessary delays and chaos at the terminal, saying the agency did not carry out enough publicity on the new policy.

One of the affected motorists, Adebayo Awojobi, said: “I have been in this traffic for almost an hour. Today (yesterday) is Sunday.How will the traffic here be tomorrow (today)? The officials of the agency here said it was strictly cashless, but they were not prepared for the crowd.”

But FAAN’s spokesman, Henry Agbebire, said enforcement was in line with the Federal Government’s drive towards a cashless economy.

Agbebire insisted that the measure would reduce leakages, curb extortion and improve revenue generation for the agency.

Agbebire also debunked the claim that the agency did not carry out enough publicity on the new policy.

He also blamed the chaos on some of the users of the facility who preferred to wait till the last minute before taking necessary action.

He stated that the agency had enough cards to give to motorists passing through the axis.

“The card is free, but when you load your N2,000 or N1,000, there is a N500 that goes off for maintenance,” he said.