The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), dey set to ground over 60 private jets owned by important people in Nigeria starting from today, October 14, 2024, due to unpaid import duty.
According to documents shared between the NCS and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the enforcement exercise go start today to recover unpaid import duties running into several billions of naira. Many private jet owners no pay duty on their jets, and this led to a one-month verification exercise between June and July this year.
Top bank chairmen and business moguls dey among those affected by this decision. Some private jet operators don dey lobby the Presidency to intervene, but the Presidency refuse to interfere in the process. However, some operators don start the process of settling the import duty to avoid the clampdown.
For example, operators of a United States-registered Gulfstream G650ER jet belonging to a leading Nigerian bank don pay N5.3 billion import duty to avoid the grounding. NCS had recovered some duties in the past when similar exercises were carried out, like in 2019.
NAMA issue a Notice to Airmen and direct Air Traffic Control units to ground any non-compliant aircraft starting from October 14, 2024, until cleared by the NCS. The agency also request that cleared aircraft details be promptly forwarded to prevent issues and ensure smooth coordination.
The Comptroller General of NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, say some private jets dey leave the country to evade the verification exercise. He explain that many private jets dey operate outside the law, and only a few don pay customs duties according to data from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
