Air Peace CEO, Dr. Allen Onyema, has revealed that the airline willingly lost $2 million to a fraudulent Tunisian leasing company in a wet lease deal, a deliberate sacrifice to protect Nigeria’s aviation image and the opportunities now opening up for local operators.
Speaking at the 29th LAAC Conference, Onyema disclosed that after receiving the funds, the company claimed it was taking the leased aircraft for maintenance and never returned it nor refunded the money. He explained that he permitted the company to take the aircraft without grounding it in order to prevent Nigeria from being blacklisted.
According to him, the financial loss was a strategic sacrifice made in the interest of all Nigerian airlines.
“A foreign company defrauded us of $2 million. They told us they wanted to buy aircraft parts and needed a sum of $2 million, if I had stopped them from taking the money, Nigeria would have been further blacklisted. What you would be hearing is that Nigerian airlines are unreliable.
“For the sake of the aviation industry, I decided not to stop this transaction. The company took our money and never came back. They stole our $2 million. The Nigerian government got in touch with them. They said it was a private business matter and they would see what they could do, and they ran away with that $2 million.”, he said.
He stressed that this decision indirectly helped pave the way for the improved leasing environment now taking shape in Nigeria. He also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, for their decisive leadership, describing them as leaders who are genuinely listening to the industry and committed to its growth.
Onyema urged the continuation of reforms in leasing, legal protections, and insurance agreements, insisting that the sacrifices made by individual operators must translate into lasting benefits for the entire aviation sector.
