The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says it has concluded investigations into the high airfares charged by airlines during the 2025 Yuletide period.

The executive vice chairman of FCCPC, Tunji Bello, said the commission was considering mandating the airlines to refund affected passengers over excess charges.

Mr Bello spoke while briefing State House correspondents on the activities of the commission on Thursday in Abuja.

“Our preliminary report already finds the airlines wanting in that regard. The final report will be issued soon.

“So we are considering a situation where they will refund the excess charges to passengers, which we believe they exploited.

“Prices of airline tickets were about N145,000 to N150,000, suddenly it rose to N405,000 to N600,000 during the Christmas period, so we followed up through our investigations,” he said.

Mr Bello described the situation as a possible case of collusion among airlines aimed at price fixing.

“There are about five or six airlines involved, but I do not want to mention names at this stage.”

The FCCPC boss also disclosed that the commission was investigating alleged exploitative pricing in other key sectors of the economy.

According to him, the commission is probing pricing practices involving baby formula, pharmaceuticals, cement, and airline tickets following consumer complaints.

Mr Bello explained that although Nigeria operates a free-market economy, the FCCPC would intervene where businesses exploit consumers or engage in unfair market practices.

He noted that while inflation is largely driven by macroeconomic factors, practices such as price manipulation, artificial scarcity, and deceptive repackaging worsen the burden on consumers.

Mr Bello said enforcement operations had uncovered deceptive practices, including repackaging lower-grade rice and presenting it as premium brands.

He added that some retailers also manipulate prices at checkouts, charging amounts different from the shelf prices.

The FCCPC boss said some stores in Abuja and other cities had been sealed while compliance notices were issued to erring businesses.

Mr Bello warned businesses against exploiting prevailing economic conditions to take advantage of consumers.

He urged Nigerians to report cases of unfair pricing, deceptive packaging, or other exploitative practices through the commission’s complaint channels.

Mr Bello added that the commission helped consumers recover more than N10 billion through dispute resolution between January and October 2025.

He also said the FCCPC was working with other regulatory agencies to address unethical practices in the digital lending sector and strengthen consumer protection.

On concerns that global geopolitical tensions, particularly the conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, could trigger increases in the prices of goods and services, he said the commission was closely monitoring the situation to ensure that businesses do not exploit global developments to unjustifiably inflate prices in Nigeria. 

(NAN)