ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-The Federal High Court in Abuja has upheld the authority of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, to investigate consumer complaints concerning airline ticket pricing, ruling that the commission’s investigative powers are separate from its statutory mandate to regulate or fix prices.
The judgment marks a significant legal victory for the consumer protection agency in its dispute with Air Peace Limited, which had challenged the FCCPC’s authority to probe complaints over increases in its airfares.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by the FCCPC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu.
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According to the commission, Justice B.F.M. Nyako, in a judgment delivered on June 29, dismissed Air Peace’s suit challenging the FCCPC’s powers to investigate complaints relating to alleged exploitative airfare pricing.
The ruling followed an earlier decision delivered in April 2026 by Justice James Omotosho, who also dismissed a separate suit filed by Air Peace questioning the commission’s authority to investigate consumer complaints and issue summons in the course of carrying out its statutory duties.
The statement read, “The Abuja Federal High Court has affirmed the statutory authority of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to investigate consumer complaints relating to the pricing of airline tickets. The court clarified that the commission’s investigative powers under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA, 2018) are distinct from the exercise of the power to regulate prices.”
The latest suit arose after the FCCPC requested information from Air Peace in January 2025 following numerous consumer complaints over sharp increases in ticket prices on some domestic routes during the 2024 Christmas travel period.
Air Peace argued before the court that the FCCPC lacked the legal authority to investigate airfare pricing unless the President first activated the price regulation provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018.
The airline therefore sought declarations that the commission had no power to investigate airfare pricing and asked the court to permanently restrain it from carrying out such investigations.
However, Justice Nyako dismissed the airline’s arguments, holding that the FCCPC acted within the powers granted to it under Sections 17, 32 and 33 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act when it sought information from the airline in response to consumer complaints.
The court ruled that the commission’s request was part of a lawful fact-finding exercise and did not amount to price regulation or the exercise of statutory price control powers under Sections 88, 89 and 90 of the Act.
The judgment noted that the FCCPC neither directed Air Peace to reduce its fares nor prescribed a pricing formula, fixed ticket prices or declared the airline’s pricing unlawful.
The court further held that adopting Air Peace’s interpretation of the law would effectively prevent the commission from investigating pricing-related complaints unless the President had first invoked the price regulation provisions of the Act.
Justice Nyako ruled that such an interpretation would undermine the commission’s statutory investigative powers and could not have been the intention of the National Assembly when enacting the legislation.
Reacting to the judgment, the FCCPC’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tunji Bello, described the decision as another judicial affirmation of the commission’s responsibility to protect consumers and promote fair competition.
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“The court has again affirmed an important principle under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act. Investigating consumer complaints is fundamentally different from regulating prices. The FCCPC neither sought to fix nor regulate Air Peace’s fares. It simply exercised its lawful authority to obtain information as part of an investigation into a matter of legitimate consumer concern.
“An investigation is a fact-finding process. It is neither a finding of liability nor an enforcement action. Every responsible regulator must be able to inquire into credible complaints affecting consumers and markets without those inquiries being misconstrued as findings of liability, enforcement action, or price regulation,” he said.
He reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to carrying out its statutory responsibilities fairly, transparently and in strict compliance with the rule of law.
The FCCPC has in recent years intensified enforcement of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act by investigating complaints across sectors including aviation, telecommunications, digital services, consumer goods and financial services.
Earlier this week, President Bola Tinubu directed the commission to investigate major global technology companies and Generative Artificial Intelligence platforms over allegations of anti-competitive practices and the unlawful use of content belonging to Nigerian media organisations.
The commission has consistently maintained that its mandate is to protect consumers from exploitative and unfair market practices, promote healthy competition and investigate complaints where there are reasonable grounds to believe consumers or competition may be adversely affected.
The dispute with Air Peace stemmed from widespread complaints by air travellers over sharp increases in domestic airfares during the December 2024 peak travel season, prompting the FCCPC to seek information from the airline as part of its statutory investigation.