The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has cleared ride-hailing platform Bolt to immediately resume operations at Nigerian airports following an agreement reached between both parties.
FAAN said the agreement resolves an operational dispute that had disrupted Bolt’s airport services and generated complaints from passengers.
In a statement issued on Thursday, FAAN’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Henry Agbebire, said the disagreement followed years of efforts by the authority to address safety, security and accountability concerns involving commercial and e-hailing vehicles at airports.
According to FAAN, the concerns included unregulated passenger pickups and solicitation, as well as cases involving drivers operating across multiple ride-hailing platforms simultaneously.
“We sincerely apologise for the difficulties this caused our passengers,” Agbebire said, adding that FAAN had “listened, reflected and made the necessary adjustments.”
The authority also rejected claims that it had fixed or controlled fares for airport taxis.
FAAN said airport taxi rates discussed publicly in recent weeks were not newly introduced by the authority or created by its Airport Car-Hire Management System, known as ACHRAMS.
The authority explained that ACHRAMS was introduced to address its regulatory, safety and security concerns but stressed that the system is not an e-hailing application and does not compete with Bolt, Uber or other mobility platforms.
FAAN said the taxi fares had existed previously and were not substantially different from earlier rates. However, the authority acknowledged that ACHRAMS had made the fares more visible to passengers, drawing attention to the difference between airport taxi prices and the lower fares commonly available through e-hailing platforms.
The authority said its intervention was driven by regulatory and security concerns rather than commercial interests and insisted that it had no intention of creating a monopoly over airport transportation.
FAAN also disclosed that discussions were ongoing with other e-hailing operators and were expected to conclude “in the coming days”.
The authority did not identify the other platforms involved in the discussions.
FAAN apologised to passengers for the inconvenience caused by the temporary disruption and thanked them for their patience and understanding.
Author
