The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has dismissed reports circulating on social media claiming that airport taxi operators were directed to replace their vehicles with 2020 model cars before continuing operations at airports across the country.

The clarification followed a viral video in which some airport cab drivers appealed to President Bola Tinubu and Nigerians, alleging that they were being compelled to purchase vehicles valued between eighteen and thirty million naira despite the current economic challenges.

The drivers also claimed that the requirement was tied to the introduction of a new app-based airport taxi system, describing the condition as beyond the financial capacity of many operators.

FAAN Director of Commercial and Business Development, Adebola Agunbiade, said the claims were inaccurate, explaining that the protest was linked to the refusal of some car hire operators to register on the Airport Car Hire Rank Management System.

She said the drivers attempted to disrupt the soft and pilot launch of the system at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and clarified that FAAN had not introduced any policy requiring operators to acquire 2020 model vehicles before participating in the scheme.