The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is set to ground over 60 private jets owned by very important persons in the country over unpaid import duty running into several billions of naira. According to documents exchanged between the NCS and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) the enforcement exercise will commence on October 14th, 2024.
The jet owners, who will be affected by the decision, have reportedly been officially notified by the NCS.
Some of the luxury aircraft on the list are: Bombardier Challenger 604 CL-600-2B16, Bombardier Challenger 3500, Bombardier BD-700 Global 6000, Bombardier BD-700 Global 6500, Bombardier BD-700 Global 7500. Each of the Bombardier BD-700 Global 7500 are estimated to cost over$70m, while the Global 6500 and 6000 version cost over $50m.
In July, the Comptroller General, NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, said some private jets were leaving the country to evade the verification exercise.
“Very few of them (private jet operators) have showed up for verification and we gather intelligence that a good number of them are leaving Nigeria since the announcement was given because they would not want to be verified,” he said.
The CGC explained that the service introduced the private jet verification exercise because more private jets were operating outside the ambits of the law.
“We have seen so many of these aircraft flying and our record tends to show that only a few of them have shown up to pay duty and this is why we are bringing this verification up,” he said.
The CGC disclosed that data obtained from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority revealed that though many private jets were operating in the country, only a few had paid customs duties.
“We discovered that there are more private jets that are operating in Nigeria but have not been brought under the ambit of the law. So, the data that we got from the NCAA shows that only very few of them paid customs duty to operate in Nigeria,” he stated.
According to the customs boss, the international aviation regulations show that private jets flying in the country are obliged to pay duty.
“If they are here for a brief period in the Nigerian airspace and return, they are not obliged to pay any duty; that is if they are here on a temporary importation visit. But once they are here and are used within Nigeria, they are liable to pay duty.”
