Aviation tycoon Allen Onyema signs sponsorship deal with Nigerian Football Federation

Air Peace, a leading premium airline brand founded by Nigerian businessman and lawyer Allen Onyema, has signed a one-year renewable sponsorship deal with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) on Sept. 1, The Cable reported.

The deal, which is worth N300 million ($729,102), makes Air Peace the official airline carrier of the country’s senior and junior national football teams.

“The contract is for one year, renewable for four years and worth N200 million, with separate value-in-kind in the worth of N100 million,” the NFF said. “The contract covers all the national teams, from the Super Eagles to the junior teams.”

Commenting, Onyema said: “We decided to partner with the NFF not just because we are enamored by the hard work and resilience of Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick in improving the lot of Nigeria’s football on the pitch and in the boardroom, but also because we passionately seek a platform to give Nigerians hope.”

The Nigerian Sports Ministry is responsible for booking flights for its national teams.

However, since the grounding of the country’s national carrier, Nigerian Airways, more than two decades ago, the country’s national teams have had to bear a series of travel-related setbacks during a tournament or pre-tournament exercise.

In 2026, the men’s national team, the Super Eagles, experienced a delay at an Atlanta, Georgia, training camp, when money paid by the country’s Sports Ministry for a charter flight did not reach the airline’s account in time. A source at the NFF had said then that “a logistical mix-up with payments” had caused the delay.

The deal between the country and the multimillionaire businessman aims to set a new tone of seamless travel for the country’s national football teams.