The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has publicly dismissed claims by airline operators that high domestic airfares are caused by multiple government taxes, directly countering recent statements by Air Peace Chairman Allen Onyema.
The regulator insists the current spike in ticket prices is solely due to market forces of demand and supply.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, issued the rebuttal in a statement on social media platform X on Sunday. He firmly rejected repeated allegations that excessive levies inflate ticket costs for domestic flights.
“Any domestic carrier operating domestic flights that says that they are paying 18 taxes is a liar. No domestic carrier pays 18 taxes for domestic flights,” Achimugu stated, resharing a clip from a past interview to reinforce his point.
Achimugu challenged the tax argument by pointing to the seasonal fare surge. “We understand the high air fares this period are down to market forces—demand and supply. Let us assume there are 18 taxes, were those taxes increased recently, so why is it different in December?”
He explained that while the NCAA does not regulate airfare prices, it had summoned all domestic airlines for clarification. “They all admitted to not paying the volume of taxes being bandied around,” he said.
The NCAA’s clarification comes as a direct response to comments made by Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema in an interview with ARISE News. Onyema had detailed operational challenges, noting that many return flights on South-East routes fly nearly empty, yet airlines bear the full cost of both legs.
Onyema argued that a significant portion of ticket revenue does not reach the airlines. “Almost 65 to 70 per cent of that money is not coming to the airlines. They’re going somewhere else—levies, taxes, and other charges,” he said, describing airlines as the “sacrificial lamb” of the industry. He maintained that high fares reflect these operational realities and stressed that Nigerian domestic fares remain among the lowest globally when compared to international markets.
Achimugu questioned the logic of simultaneously citing low global fares and high domestic taxes. “It is even ironic that, in the same statement, it is alleged that Nigerians pay the lowest domestic airfares in the world while also justifying the astronomical airfares in December, even though there was no hike in taxes or jet fuel.”
He posed a pointed question to the airlines: “If high taxes were the reason why airfares were 150k–200k, why did tickets sell for as high as 500k for a 45-minute trip when the said taxes did not increase?”
Concluding the NCAA’s position, Achimugu attributed the December price surge entirely to consumer demand. “As far as I am concerned, the astronomical airfares in December are limited to certain destinations because of high demand. It is never just the airfares—it is bus fares, Airbnb rates, the price of food. It is market forces. It is Nigerians on Nigerians. This is not government.”
He also expressed disappointment that the government continues to be blamed despite support from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo, and the Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Chris Najomo.
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