‘Airport toll gates can generate N500m monthly’

Aformer General Manager of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Alhaji Abubakar Bibi yesterday said the tollgates alone as one of the revenue generating streams of the authority could generate twice more than the projected N250m monthly.

He spoke in response to a recent statement by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo who confirmed that the tollgate at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos generates N100m monthly.

Keyamo however set a target of N250m monthly as part of optimising the revenue generation of FAAN, saying VIPs would now be made to pay for toll gates.

Bibi, a one-time Airport Manager for Ilorin International Airport, Sokoto, Gombe and Makurdi Airports before he retired in 2018 in a chat with Daily Trust, stated that the N100m declared for Keyamo was downplayed, saying the tollgate as far back as 2011 was generating over N80m monthly.

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‘Airport toll gates can generate N500m monthly’

He said definitely more money can be generated from the tollgate alone even as he advocated another tollgate at the Oshodi end of the Lagos Airport road.

At the moment, only airport users from the domestic end of the MMIA or those going from international wing to domestic pay the tollgate.

But Bibi insisted that every airport user can be made to pay for a toll gate if another toll is erected before accessing the international wing.

“As at 2004, almost 20 years ago when it was around N50, N100, we normally recorded around N80m to N90m. Again, if the minister wants to get more revenue, that road leads straight to the airport from Oshodi-Isolo near the cargo terminal, in my opinion, there is supposed to be a toll gate there.

“In short, at that tollgate in Lagos, they can triple that amount (N250m). When you look at the influx of vehicles in and out, once you go out or come back, you pay again. The government just has to put another tollgate because all those areas belong to the airport. I don’t see why we should not have another tollgate before the cargo terminal so that people coming from Isolo side and going straight to the airport would also pay,” he said.