By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima will start paying tollgate fees whenever they use any airports in Nigeria.
This followed the decision reached at the Federal Executive Council, (FEC) meeting that there should be no more fee exemption to users of the airports from paying tollgate fees.
The approval was made following a memorandum presented to the council by the minister of aviation, Festus Keyamo, who argued that government was losing over 82% of the revenue it should have earned from the e-tags that provide access to the tollgates.
He explained that the memoranda had 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 that must pay.
“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 revealed.
He argued that wealthy Very Important Persons, VIPs, who should pay are those that have not been paying.
“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 to my team, I said not under my watch. It will not happen,” he said.
Keyamo vowed to end episodes where uniformed officers harass airport staff at the gates, assuring citizens that more cameras will be “planted” in strategic positions to capture those culpable.
He said the FG stands to generate N10bn annually from tolls, even as it considers a rebate for military veterans.
The minister explained that only poor people had been charged for using the tollgates, a situation that must stop.
