Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
FEDERAL Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in a bid to stem corruption and eradicate handling of cash by government officials at various transaction points, is set to commence cashless transactions across airports in the country.
The move, in order to foster ease of payment, create payment options and improve the speed and convenience of payment is scheduled to take off across all airports soon according to the general manager corporate communications Mrs Henrietta Yakubu.
According to Mrs Yakubu, the cashless transactions will reduce the carrying of cash as transactions will be made in different ways such as POS, money transfers adding that Remita agents have also been positioned strategically at various points across the airports.
She explained that the initiative was designed under the Presidential Enabling Environment Business Council PEBEC to ensure convenience and curb corruption, identifying car parks, cargo section, chartered /unscheduled flights among others will be affected by the the introduction.
“It will help FAAN to eliminate leakages and further increase revenue base of the organization. No government official will handle cash during transactions when the exercise takes off. We are soliciting the cooperation of all airport users, concessionaires and the general public to ensure a hitch free exercise”
According Mrs Yakubu , the decision to adopt digital payment was as a result of the success of the Executive Order of the Federal Government in a bid to create enabling business environment in the country especially within the airports as entry points into the country.
She explained that it was to ensure that those doing business at the airports were not harassed but furnished accurate information on what and where to pay at every point in time.
According to Mrs Yakubu, Visa on arrival which has commenced at the airport was was part of the Ease of Doing Business adding that the digital payment was another feat to be achieved.
Mrs Yakubu noted that at the end, it will be a win – win situation for both FAAN and customers adding that the agency has been repositioned to provide more improved services for customers.
She disclosed that sensitization of the general public through jingles was on going.
