Oghe Social Development Association (OSDA) members in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), over the weekend, differ as two airline operators increased their fares.
The airlines – Air Peace and United Nigeria – owed by two Igbo businessmen, Allen Onyema and Obiora Okonkwo respectively, jacked their fares by over 50%.
An unsigned post on social media had called for a boycott of the two airlines by Ndigbo, described the increase as “betrayal capitalism.”
The post disagreed with the explanation that the increase was necessitated by “demand and supply” principle, which governs every business activity.
Making a comparison of increases since 2023 Yuletide season, the post noted that the one way fare from Lagos to Enugu which is 253.3 NM was ₦135,000 in 2023, which is it said, is “already 3× pre-festive average,” whereas one way fare from Lagos to Kano (about 449.4 NM) was ₦55,000.
Other fares within that period, according to the post, were Abuja → Enugu (152.3 NM) – ₦125,000; and Abuja → Kano (196.3 NM) – ₦48,000.
“Igbo travellers swallowed the pain because ‘our brother owns the airline.’
Allen Onyema and Obiora Okonkwo pocketed the difference and called it ‘market forces,'” it stated.
Again during Christmas season of 2024, Lagos to Enugu was increased to ₦215,000, and increase of 59 % from the 2023; Lagos to Asaba (200.3 NM), increased by 63% to ₦205,000; Lagos to Kano – ₦78,000, a 42 % increase; Abuja to Owerri (214 NM) – ₦225,000; and Abuja to Kaduna (82 NM) – ₦52,000.
“Same aircraft, same fuel, same cockpit crew. The only variable that changed was ‘Igbo desperation to go home.’
“They turned our longing into a profit multiplier,” it regretted.
This year’s increase which it described as “The Year the Noose Tightens
Christmas 2025, and which tickets are already on sale, pegs one way Lagos to Enugu at ₦350,500 (another +63 % on 2024, and +159 % on 2023); Lagos to Asaba – ₦320,000 (+56 % on 2024); Abuja to Enugu – ₦275,000 (+120 % on 2024), while return tickets to the South East now is ₦677,000 on Northern routes, and Lagos to Kano return is ₦213,800, which is calculated to be less than one-third the Igbo rate.
It quoted Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) as describing the increases as “sadistic, anti-Igbo price-fixing.”
The poster called it “three consecutive Christmases of economic strangulation by men who share our blood,” and advocated for abandonment of the two airlines.
“2023 – we grumbled. 2024 – we complained. 2025 – we boycott. No more boarding passes.
No more ‘our brother will understand.’
Every naira we withhold is a knot untied from the noose they have looped around our Christmas for three straight years.
“#AbandonAirPeace
AbandonUnitedNigeria
“Let the historical loop of betrayal end with empty seats and unforgiving memories.”
It calculated route distance (nautical miles) and Scheduled Flight Time, to drive home the point, as follows:
Lagos → Enugu 253.3 NM 1 hr 03 min
Lagos → Asaba 200.3 NM 1 hr 15 min
Lagos → Kano 449.4 NM 1 hr 28 min
Lagos → Kaduna 394.0 NM 1 hr 20 min (est.)*
Abuja → Owerri 214.0 NM 1 hr 15 min
Abuja → Enugu 152.3 NM 1 hr 00 min
Kaduna’s exact published time is sparse; carriers schedule 1 h 15–20 min.
Price-Per-Nautical-Mile Treachery
Table
Route (NM) Typical Festive Fare Naira per NM
Lagos → Enugu (253.3 NM) ₦350,500 ₦1,384 / NM
Lagos → Asaba (200.3 NM) ₦320,000 ₦1,597 / NM
Lagos → Kano (449.4 NM) ₦106,900 ₦238 / NM
Lagos → Kaduna (394.0 NM) ₦90,000 ₦228 / NM
Abuja → Enugu (152.3 NM) ₦275,000 ₦1,806 / NM
Abuja → Owerri (214.0 NM) ₦300,000 ₦1,402 / NM
This it translated to mean,
“Fly north and you pay ₦228–238 per nautical mile; fly east and you pay ₦1,384–1,806 per nautical mile—6 to 8 times more.
“The Boycott Verdict
Until Allen Onyema (Air Peace) and Obiora Okonkwo (United Nigeria) equalise the Naira-per-NM tariff, the Igbo traveller must:
“Refuse every seat on their aircraft. Count the nautical miles as we count bullets in a war of extortion.
“Choose any airline but theirs, even if it means driving the 253.3 NM from Lagos to Enugu. Let the sky be measured, and let the boycott be unforgiving.”
But Oghe indigenes living in Abuja were divided on the boycott.
While media personality, Chief Kierian Umeayo sees the boycott or abandonment as incapable of solving the problem, a retired Director, Engineering Service, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Chief Obiora Ezeoha said they ought to have find away to cushion the effect on the travelers.
Chief Umeayo had argued that the air operators had to grapple with the issue of return ticket, since the majority of the passengers move only towards the East, during festive period.
“For instance, Abuja to Enugu is well booked during the festive period but Enugu to Abuja becomes a problem (be)cause not many people will be going to Abuja.
“So you find some airlines returning to Abuja empty or with a few passengers, sometimes,10, 20 out of over two hundred seats.
“Meanwhile many passengers will be waiting in Abuja to board the plane for Enugu so the plane will have to fuel again. Who pays for it?” he asked.
Chief Innocent Awayi shared the same view, and contended that the same situation applies in land transportation.
“S/East and other regions can never have similar rushes that same period, including those coming from across the globe.
“They have to bear it that way, after all it’s seasonal and once they have it at the back of their minds it won’t no longer be a problem.
“I don’t think creating such awareness of boycotting those airlines by that period of the season should be necessary because nobody would listen to you, because that’s not what someone who’s likely homesick could wait to hear and what they will definitely say at the end of your stories is, ‘and then Is that why I won’t go home to meet my parents?'”
Surveyor Marcel Okorie who started the debated, observed that Allen Onyema went to Sudan to lift Nigerians free of charge, and wondered why it would be too much for him to review his prices for the sake of Igbos travelling for Xmas?
“I remember Dangote selling petrol at 500 naira or so during Ramadan. Must you gain everything?” he asked.
This view was supported by Sir Chikwendu Nzewigbo, suggested moderation in the increase.
“If he increases from 150k to N200k that’s quite a reasonable idea but not increasing from 150k to 350k. That is called extortion.
“Thank God we have Enugu Air now and they are expanding they are even flying Owerri now.
“On Thursday this week, Enugu Air from Lagos to Enugu is N120k while Air Peace is N135k,” he said.
Chief Ezeoha pointed out that other airlines don’t charge their people this way during their own festive period.
“Last year it was 600k for Abuja to Enugu (to & fro), this year it is now 700k getting close to 1.2m, which he is charging for Abuja to London and back to Abuja. There must be a way out. Only God knows how much it will cost by next year,” he wondered.
Chief Ezeoha sees the increases as “astronomical’ and wondered if it “now a crime that we have our own brothers who have airlines.”
Instead of charging about N300,000 return ticket for Abuja to Enugu, Ezeoha said “why can’t he leave it at 250k for Abuja to Enugu, and then collect 150k for Enugu to Abuja becos there are lots of passengers going to Enugu immediately after Xmas. That makes it a total of 400k which sounds more reasonable.
“Unfortunately, he calculates the fare on the premise that the aircraft run empty from Enugu to Abuja during the Xmas period and empty from Enugu to Abuja immediately after Xmas, which is not true,” he disputed.
He however did not see any respite in Enugu Air, because it would be run as a private enterprise.
“Remember it is private operator that is operating it,” he said, disclosing that he paid N344,000 return ticket for Air Peace, and N332, 000 for Enugu Air.
“No much difference,” he observed.
