Click to watchPaystack, the Stripe-owned Nigerian fintech, has pioneered a contactless payment solution that will make airport access payments quick and seamless. In a partnership with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), both parties are trying to eliminate cash by enabling payments at all Nigerian airport access gates, car parks, VIP and protocol lounges. Leaving commuters to use only Near Field Communication (NFC) cards.
“For passengers, this means faster, more convenient transactions and the elimination of revenue leakage, ensuring every Naira is accounted for and reinvested into our airports’ infrastructure,” Osas Amadin, Chief of Staff to the MD of FAAN, said in an announcement on LinkedIn. “The roadmap is clear, with full implementation across all FAAN-operated airports targeted for Q1 2026.”
This partnership is expected to benefit the airport authority, which will implement the cashless directive nationwide, starting with Abuja and Lagos international airports. The outcome is a 50% revenue collection increase, with capacity for a 75% increment in the future as more airports come on board. Lagos and Abuja represent a majority of Nigeria’s airport traffic, hence the huge uptick expected from just these two.
For Paystack, this is the first real test of contactless payments. While other players like Touch and Pay Technologies have pioneered contactless payments in Lagos with the closed-loop Cowry Card for transit, Paystack’s open-system approach at a national level presents a far broader challenge.
Click to viewThe fintech is banking on its robust infrastructure, honed over a decade of providing merchant services. Paystack will point to its partnership with Titan Trust Bank on virtual accounts, which boasts a 98% transfer confirmation rate within 10 seconds, as evidence of its capacity to handle the surge.
Beyond boosting airport revenue, the success of this high-profile implementation could serve as a crucial proof of concept for contactless technology in Nigeria. It may accelerate the adoption of NFC payments beyond microtransactions and transit, paving the way for expansion into larger retail segments such as pharmacies, grocery stores, and restaurants.
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