• Billions of naira lost to complimentary e-tickets

President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, members of the National Assembly and state Assemblies, as well as military personnel, will, henceforth, pay the required fees for e-tags (tickets) at toll gates and airports in the country.

The decision was one of many taken at the reconvened Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by the President at the State House, Abuja, yesterday.

The approval followed a memorandum by Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, who argued that the government was losing over 82 per cent of the revenue it should have earned from the e-tags that provide access at tollgates.

Fielding questions from reporters at the end of the meeting, Keyamo revealed that the country loses over N10 billion through complimentary e-tickets to VIPs, including members of the National Assembly and their convoys, military officials and other high-profile Nigerians.

He explained that the presentation had prescribed an exemption for only the President and the Vice President before Tinubu overruled the submission and directed that he and his deputy should be included.

Keyamo regretted that VIPs, including federal lawmakers, members of state Assemblies and military personnel, who should pay, have defaulted over the years. He said only poor people are charged, adding: “This must stop.”

He said: “What we sought and obtained is the mandatory payment of access fees by all visitors at our federal airport tollgates nationwide, no more exemptions. When we came to the office, we met a tradition on the ground, where at the end of the year, all manners of VIPs approach us for what they call complimentary e-tags or complimentary stickers. You see them coming into our airports nationwide. They don’t pay access fees. They don’t pay for parking and they don’t pay for essential services at airports. I told myself and my team that under my watch, it would not happen. If this tradition has existed for years, I will not allow it to happen.

“It is inconceivable that in our country, it is the VIPs that don’t pay for services. It is the poor that pay. The VIPs, who are supposed to have money, don’t pay for services, but they compel poor men to pay for services, and I said no.

“Let me give you the shocking statistics. The figure that we get at the end of the day from the complimentary e-tags is 82 per cent in the negative. In other words, when we are supposed to have a 100 per cent income from these e-tags that we print, it is only 18 per cent that we end up selling. That is how bad it is. And 82 per cent of these e-tags are given out free of charge to VIPs.”

Keyamo added: “Imagine the loss in my sector. I ask myself, which other sector will I go to where they will give me anything free? So, why would everybody come to my sector and want to get free passage? Not possible.”