FG cautions Air Peace against obstructing violations probe
FCCPC
Abdullateef Fowewe
The Nigerian government has warned Air Peace not to obstruct its probe over consumer rights violations.
The spokesperson of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Ondaje Ijagwu, conveyed the warning in a statement on Sunday.
This comes after Air Peace on Friday, December 6, claimed that commission allegations on exploitative fares had negatively impacted the firm.
Air Peace claimed that FCCPC did not follow the right channels in its violation allegations.
The company has added that domestic airfare should cost between N500,000 and N700,000 per route.
However, the FCCPC claimed Air Peace’s latest outburst is an attempt to distract the Commission from its ongoing inquiry into alleged exploitative ticket pricing.
According to the Commission, consumers’ petitions showed that Air Peace’s fare costs are exploitative.
FCCPC queried Air Peace’s fare price template at a time when its competitors had cheaper offers.
FCCPC said, “Last Thursday, the Commission had had to refute a report syndicated in a section of the media that grossly misrepresented the proceedings at a meeting between its officials and the Air Peace team earlier on December 3 at the Commission’s Abuja headquarters, as a follow-up to an avalanche of petitions received from passengers in recent times.
“Although Section 33 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 grants the Commission discretionary power to conduct inquiries in public or in camera, the FCCPC chose to conduct the December 3 session in camera as a gesture of good faith to preserve the confidentiality.
“But no sooner had the session ended than leaks appeared in the media attributing unfounded but prejudicial statements to the Commission’s officials, categorically declaring that ‘Air Peace was not under investigation’ and copiously quoted the Air Peace’s Chairman, Mr. Allen Onyema, engaging in ostentation of self-adulation. Curiously, the same media leaks omitted a boastful statement by Mr. Onyema at the same December 3 engagement that he could decide to shut down the airline, ostensibly to show he was doing the nation a favour by flying.”
However, the Commission in a statement on December 5, restated that the inquiry was still ongoing, urging the public to be wary of manufactured news, since the report was not disseminated on the Commission’s official communication platforms.
“In a dramatic turn of events on Friday, Air Peace addressed a press conference in Lagos where it made several outlandish claims and innuendos obviously intended to whip up sentiments but conveniently avoided addressing the real issues.
“For instance, in asserting that only the aviation regulatory agency could inquire into its affairs, Air Peace only betrays a terribly poor understanding of both the legal and moral pillars of its operating environment. Passengers are consumers of its services. Their rights are inalienable and guaranteed under the FCCPA. It is the basis of FCCPC’s intervention.
“As stipulated in Section 17(e) of the FCCPA 2018, the FCCPC is mandated to carry out inquiries considered necessary or desirable in connection with any matter falling within the purview of the Act. Furthermore, Section 127(1)(a) empowers the FCCPC to ensure that pricing practices across all sectors, including aviation, are fair, competitive, and non-exploitative. Specifically, it states that no undertaking shall offer to supply, supply, or enter into an agreement to supply goods or services at a price or on terms that are manifestly unfair, unreasonable, or unjust.
“Pursuant to Section 148(3)(c) of the FCCPA 2018, the FCCPC, upon receipt of a consumer complaint, can direct an inspector to institute an inquiry and investigate the matter as quickly as practicable to determine whether the undertaking has acted inconsistently with the provisions of the Act.
“The inquiry into Air Peace’s pricing practices stems from allegations of unjustified fare increases on advance bookings for certain domestic routes, lack of transparency in pricing structures and practices that potentially contravene consumer rights and fair competition principles,” the commission added.
