Local airlines operators the like of Air Peace, United Nigeria Airlines and ValueJet have reviewed their fares upward for December 2026 and early January 2027, with return tickets on some routes climbing to ₦822,000.

Quoted fares seen by Ohibaba.com shows that Air Peace listed a Lagos to Anambra return ticket between December 24, 2026 and January 2, 2027 at ₦676,000.

The outbound flight costs ₦341,500, while the return is priced at ₦335,500. Abuja to Anambra will cost about ₦677,000 for a return ticket, while Lagos to Owerri costs ₦671,000.

The fares reflect prices available during checks and may change with seat availability and booking dates.

United Nigeria and ValueJetUnited Nigeria Airlines recorded one of the highest fares. A Lagos to Anambra return ticket between December 22 and January 2 costs ₦822,000.

The outbound journey costs ₦511,000, while the return flight is priced at ₦311,000. Other United Nigeria return fares are Abuja to Anambra at ₦757,000, Lagos to Enugu at ₦656,000 and Lagos to Owerri at ₦682,000.

ValueJet’s Lagos to Owerri return fare stands at about ₦658,094.

This comprises ₦326,666 for the outbound flight and ₦331,428 for the return journey.

Quoted return fares on other routes include ₦622,000 for Lagos to Port Harcourt and Abuja to Port Harcourt, and ₦679,000 for Lagos to Asaba.

Aviation experts attributed the increases to surging festive demand, limited aircraft capacity and growing concerns over insecurity on major highways.

Aviation analyst Dr James Odaudu said airlines frequently struggle to accommodate the influx of passengers travelling to the South-East and South-South during Christmas.

According to him, insufficient flight capacity allows operators to increase fares, sometimes substantially.

He warned that although seasonal pricing is understandable in a deregulated market, excessive increases could raise legitimate concerns about passenger exploitation.

BLACK MARKET RATES

₦1415DOLLAR (USD)

₦1860POUND (GBP)

₦1530 EURO (EUR)

₦950 CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD)

₦70 SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (ZAR)

₦190 CHINESE YUAN (CNY)

₦100 GHANAIAN CEDI (GHS)

₦2240 West African CFA F.(XOF)

₦2180 Central African CFA F.(XAF)

₦820 Australian Dollar (AUD)

The three largest cement manufacturers in Nigeria Dangote Cement Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, and BUA Cement Plc have reported a combined N5.8 trillion revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2026.

The surge in the revenue is being driven by the increasing prices of cement selling N12,000 to N15,000 between July and September 2026 in Lagos and Ogun States, compared with around N10,000 sold in September 2025.

THISDAY reported that their unaudited result and accounts, the N5.8 trillion revenue is about 21 per cent increase over the N4.8 trillion revenue reported in nine months of 2025.

A breakdown revealed that Dangote Cement reported N3.8 trillion revenue during the period under review, about 19.6 per cent increase when compared to N3.15 trillion in 2025.

Dangote Cement’s production capacity increased by 9 per cent to 22.1million metric tonnes from 20.2 million tonnes in the corresponding period of 2025. It sold 14.1Mt, up by 6.4 per cent in the period under review. Its average selling price also rose by 9.4 per cent to N170,493 per tonne.

Exports of cement and clinker from Nigeria increased by 41.8 per cent to 1.5Mt, including 26 clinker shipments to Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast. The company’s operations in other African countries sold 9.1Mt, up by 14 per cent. Senegal grew by 30%, Ethiopia by 19 per cent and Tanzania by nine per cent, and a new grinding plant in Ivory Coast sold 0.53Mt. Sales in Ghana and Cameroon were lower.

The first phase of the company’s 6Mt/yr plant at Itori in Ogun state is on track to be commissioned in 2027, part of a plan to increase capacity to 80Mt/yr from 55Mt/yr across Africa.

On its part, BUA Cement posted N1.09 trillion revenue, a growth of 26.5 per cent from N858.72 billion in 2025, while HBM Nigeria declared N928.25 billion revenue, representing an increase of nearly 19 per cent from N780.5 billion in 2025.