The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has cleared ride-hailing company Bolt to immediately resume operations at Nigerian airports following an agreement reached between both parties.
The development comes after a dispute between the authority and the ride-hailing platform disrupted services and sparked complaints from passengers.
In a statement issued by its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Henry Agbebire, FAAN said the disagreement followed years of efforts to address safety, security and accountability concerns involving commercial and e-hailing vehicles operating at airports.
According to the authority, some of the concerns included unauthorised passenger pickups, solicitation and situations involving drivers operating across multiple ride-hailing platforms.
FAAN also rejected claims that it determines or controls taxi fares at airports, insisting that the fares existed independently of its management system.
“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 explained that its concerns over airport transportation led to the introduction of ACHRAMS, an airport car-hire management system.
FAAN stressed that ACHRAMS is not an e-hailing application and does not compete with Bolt, Uber or other mobility platforms.
FAAN denies fixing airport taxi fares
The authority also responded to criticism over the cost of airport taxi services, explaining that the fares recently discussed publicly were neither newly introduced by FAAN nor created by ACHRAMS.
It said the rates were not significantly different from those that had previously existed.
According to FAAN, the system simply made the existing fares more visible to passengers, which led to increased scrutiny when they were compared with the lower prices commonly offered by e-hailing platforms.
FAAN said it is still engaging with other e-hailing operators and expects the discussions to be concluded “in the coming days”.
The authority maintained that its actions were motivated by regulatory, safety and security considerations rather than commercial interests.
It also reiterated that it had no intention of creating a monopoly in airport transportation.
FAAN apologised to passengers for the inconvenience caused by the temporary disruption and thanked them for their patience and understanding.