Photo caption: Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission logo. Photo credit: FCCPC
The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the powers of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to investigate consumer complaints over airline ticket pricing, ruling that the Commission’s authority to conduct investigations is distinct from the statutory power to regulate or fix prices.
The judgment is a major victory for the consumer protection agency in its legal battle with Air Peace Limited, which had challenged the Commission’s authority to investigate complaints over the airline’s fare increases.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by the Director of Corporate Affairs of the FCCPC, Ondaje Ijagwu.
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 authority to investigate complaints relating to alleged exploitative airfare pricing.
The ruling follows an earlier judgment delivered in April 2026 by Justice James Omotosho, who also dismissed a separate suit filed by Air Peace questioning the Commission’s powers to investigate consumer complaints and issue summons in the discharge of its statutory responsibilities.
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 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 a power to regulate price.”
The latest case stemmed from a suit instituted by Air Peace in 2025 after the FCCPC requested information from the airline in January 2025 following widespread consumer complaints over sharp increases in ticket prices on some domestic routes during the 2024 Christmas travel season.
Air Peace had argued before the court that the FCCPC lacked the legal authority to inquire into airfare pricing unless the President first activated the price regulation provisions contained in the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018.
The airline consequently sought declarations that the Commission had no authority to investigate airfare pricing and asked the court to issue perpetual orders restraining the agency from conducting such investigations.
However, Justice Nyako rejected the airline’s arguments, holding that the FCCPC acted within the powers conferred on it under Sections 17, 32 and 33 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act when it requested information from the airline in response to consumer complaints.
The court ruled that the Commission’s request formed part of a lawful fact-finding exercise and did not amount to price regulation or the exercise of statutory price control powers provided under Sections 88, 89 and 90 of the Act.
According to the judgment, 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 accepting Air Peace’s interpretation of the law would effectively strip the Commission of its ability to investigate complaints relating to pricing unless the President had first invoked the price regulation provisions of the Act.
Justice Nyako held that such an interpretation would undermine the Commission’s statutory investigative mandate and could not have been the intention of the National Assembly when enacting the legislation.
Reacting to the judgment, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the FCCPC, Tunji Bello, described the decision as another significant judicial endorsement of the Commission’s responsibility to protect consumers and promote fair competition.
“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 exercising its statutory responsibilities fairly, transparently and strictly in accordance with the rule of law.
The FCCPC has in recent years intensified enforcement of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, investigating complaints across several 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 maintained that its mandate is to protect consumers against exploitative and unfair market practices, promote competition and investigate complaints where there are reasonable grounds to believe that consumers or competition may be adversely affected.
The dispute with Air Peace arose after many air travellers complained of steep increases in domestic airfares during the peak travel period in December 2024, prompting the Commission to seek information from the airline as part of its statutory investigation.
