Aviation agencies asked by Customs to ground 91 private jets over owed import duties

GOVERNMENT ministers have directed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to ground 91 private jets belonging to several wealthy Nigerians over their alleged refusal to pay import duties running to over N30bn ($73m).

Nigeria is the world’s second fastest-growing private jet market in the world behind China with politicians, evangelical clergymen and business moguls fuelling the industry. However, these millionaires have failed to pay the required customs duties on these planes, leading to the NCS comptroller-general Col Hameed Ali, to issue a directive that all their planes be seized.

He has written to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (Faan) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (Nama) asking them to ground the affected private jets with immediate effect. This letter directed the agencies to deny the aircraft administrative and operational flight clearances indefinitely.

Titled Recovery of Aviation Import Duty on Privately Owned Aircraft Operating in the Country, the NCAA letter read in part: “The federal government in its drive for enhanced revenues has mandated the Nigeria Customs Service to immediately recover from defaulting private aircraft owners the required statutory import duties on their imported aircraft. You may wish to recall the verification exercise conducted by the NCS, initially scheduled for a 14 day period but magnanimously extended over a 60-day period from 7th June through 6 August 2021, following a World Press Conference held on 31st May 2021.

“The outcome of the aforementioned verification exercise is a compilation of all private aircraft imported into the country without payment of statutory import duty.  In this regard therefore, your full cooperation is being solicited to ensure the success of this initiative and that all such private aircraft owners or representatives are denied administrative and operational flight clearances indefinitely, until an NCS-issued Aircraft Clearance Certificate is procured and presented to your organisation as proof of compliance.”

At the end of the 60-day exercise, 57 private jets, which had licences for commercial charter operations, were cleared and issued Aircraft Operators Certificate by the Customs. However, 29 private jets, whose owners came for the verification were found to be liable to pay the import duty.

Customs also compiled a list of another 62 private jets whose owners failed to appear for the verification exercise but were found to be liable for import duty payment. However, other private jets whose owners have commenced the process of paying their import duty have been given a 14-day ultimatum to clear the debts, while the list of the 91 private jets whose owners have yet to present themselves for import duty payment has been presented to the aviation agencies by the NCS for the immediate grounding of their flight operations.

Some of the owners of the 91 jets have written protest letters to the NCS, arguing they cannot pay import duties on the planes because the jets are under lease payments. Customs, in its response to the letters, queried the rationale for bringing in the planes and allegedly  fraudulently exporting them under questionable documentation processes in the past 10 years.