The future of public service delivery is digital. While the transition is inconvenient, adoption inevitably comes with friction. As more public services move towards cashless and digital systems, temporary disruption should not obscure long-term gains in transparency, efficiency, and revenue integrity. What matters most is managing transition deliberately, documenting lessons learnt, and applying those lessons across ministries and agencies.
On 1 March, most travellers were caught by surprise when entering the airport. I experienced the same surprise firsthand.
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Earlier that week, I arrived in Ilorin and my brother picked me up from the airport. At the exit gate, he realised that he had no cash and asked to pay electronically. We were told payment was strictly cash-only—for now — though the airport would soon go cashless. After some delay, he was given an account number to transfer ₦300 before we were allowed to exit.
Three days later, the situation reversed. He returned to drop me off, this time with cash in hand, only to be told cash was no longer accepted. What typically takes less than a minute stretched to nearly 30 minutes as drivers navigated electronic payments while traffic built behind them.
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The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) deserves commendation for advancing a bold cashless initiative aimed at blocking revenue leakages across its pay points, including access gates, car parks, and executive lounges. The objective is clear and strategically aligned with broader national digitisation efforts: strengthen transparency, improve accountability, and increase internally generated revenue. At the pilot stage in Lagos and Abuja, FAAN projected a 50 per cent increase in revenue collection, rising to 75 per cent as more payment points were integrated, with an ambitious goal of tripling revenue within one year of full implementation.
As with many system-wide reforms, however, the initial rollout revealed operational strain in some locations — gridlock, failed electronic transfers, delayed confirmations, and extended wait times of up to one to three hours in certain cases. The policy direction is sound and forward-looking. The experience, instead, highlights an important question: How can public institutions manage digital transitions to preserve reform momentum while minimising friction?
As Nigeria deepens its cashless and digital governance agenda, this question will extend beyond FAAN. The lessons from this transition are therefore relevant, not just to airports but also to local governments, ministries, departments, and agencies embarking on similar reforms.
FAAN invested in communication and publicity ahead of the rollout. However, communication effectiveness should not be measured solely by reach or visibility; it must be assessed by behavioural readiness. Data on pre-registration levels, card activations, or digital payment adoption prior to the transition could have served as early indicators of system readiness.
Lessons Learnt
With the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continuing to advance its cashless agenda and encourage digital payments across public institutions, it is likely that more ministries, departments, and agencies will follow suit in transitioning away from cash-based systems. As digitisation accelerates across the public sector, the FAAN experience offers practical lessons for future rollouts and system transitions.
1. A More Representative Pilot
FAAN initially launched contactless payments in September 2025 at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja — two of the busiest airports in the country, each recording over 300,000 vehicles passing through access gates monthly.
While high-volume airports are useful for stress-testing systems, they are not fully representative of Nigeria’s economic diversity, infrastructure constraints, or digital readiness levels. A broader pilot — including mid-sized and small airports — could have surfaced behavioural and operational challenges before full enforcement.
2. Phased Rollout with a Hybrid Transition
A temporary hybrid model — allowing both cash and digital payments during a defined transition period — would have reduced friction. Phased enforcement enables the real-time monitoring of delays, transaction failures, and traffic flow impacts before full system lock-in.
Digitisation is not simply about switching systems; it is about carefully sequencing reform.
3. Robust and Measurable Communication
FAAN invested in communication and publicity ahead of the rollout. However, communication effectiveness should not be measured solely by reach or visibility; it must be assessed by behavioural readiness. Data on pre-registration levels, card activations, or digital payment adoption prior to the transition could have served as early indicators of system readiness. Where adoption rates are low, enforcement timelines may need to be adjusted.
A sustainable system should allow users to activate access without interacting with officials at payment points. Physical cards may serve as an interim solution, but long-term efficiency lies in linking payments directly to existing bank cards, mobile wallets, or, better still, facial recognition systems or other biometric evidence linked to bank accounts/BVN.
In practical terms, communication could be more robust by extending it beyond press statements to more direct and anticipatory engagement — such as outbound voice AI calls or SMS notifications, early activation campaigns in key catchment areas outside the airport, advance coordination with airlines to notify passengers before travel, and clear signage, days or weeks ahead of enforcement. These measures reduce last-minute friction and shift compliance upstream rather than at the point of congestion.
4. Multiple Registration and Pick-Up Locations
Registration conducted at airport gates created operational pressure on toll lanes and contributed to gridlock. Additionally, limiting card availability to designated bank branches 16 days after rollout is restricting access during the transition window.
Expanding registration channels before enforcement — through digital pre-registration, wider banking partnerships, and decentralised pickup locations — would have eased congestion and improved adoption.
5. Multichannel, Future-Ready Payment Options – Not Another Physical Card
A sustainable system should allow users to activate access without interacting with officials at payment points. Physical cards may serve as an interim solution, but long-term efficiency lies in linking payments directly to existing bank cards, mobile wallets, or, better still, facial recognition systems or other biometric evidence linked to bank accounts/BVN.
Globally, systems such as Oyster in the UK and TAP in the US began with proprietary cards before transitioning to debit-card-enabled access. Nigeria’s public payment infrastructure can follow a similar trajectory — moving from cashless to a seamless process.
Conclusion
The future of public service delivery is digital. While the transition is inconvenient, adoption inevitably comes with friction. As more public services move towards cashless and digital systems, temporary disruption should not obscure long-term gains in transparency, efficiency, and revenue integrity. What matters most is managing transition deliberately, documenting lessons learnt, and applying those lessons across ministries and agencies.
Shona 0. Oluwatola is a public policy and AI strategist with expertise in technology, public health, and governance. She is the Founder of AccessGov, a GovTech company driving digital transformation in government, and Co-founder of CDIAL AI, which builds inclusive speech and data technologies for African languages.
