Leonard Otuonye Ugbajah

The Southeast Maths Olympiad winner returns to Diamond College Owerri to a warm and proud welcome from his school.

Lies have been told over this matter, over and over. I have addressed this on national TV, major news platforms, and via my X handle. While the NCAA does not regulate airfares, I have invited ALL of the domestic airlines, bar none, and asked them about these taxes they keep talking about on TV. They ALL admitted to NOT paying the volume of taxes being bandied around. I don't understand this 350k and 81k narrative, but I know that, for the kind of support that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the aviation minister, Festus Keyamo; and the DGCA, Capt. Chris Najomo have given to domestic carriers, I see no reason why the government keeps getting thrown under the bus via statements like this. It is even ironic that, in the same statement, it is alleged that Nigerians pay the lowest domestic airfares in the world while also justifying the astronomical airfares that came to play in December even though there was no hike in taxes or jet fuel. If my inviting the airlines themselves, speaking with travel agents, and the relevant departments within the Authority did not agree with the narrative being pushed, I don't see how this is sustainable. If high taxes were the reason why airfares were 150k-200k, why did tickets well for as high as 500k for a 45 minute trip when the said taxes did not increase? And this is happening at a time when Festus Keyamo has ensured that domestic carriers now have access to dry lease aircraft; something they have not had in decades. Not a single airline staff I spoke with two weeks ago agreed with the excuses I am reading on social and traditional media.

It's been almost 8 months now still I can't summon the strength to tell the story. The story of how my 75 yr old Dad was abducted by the IPOB/ESN militia from our village house(in Okigwe LGA, Imo State)in the late hours of Sun 11 Dec 2022 and murdered the next day in their camp.