The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), has launched a major crackdown on private jet owners across the country due to unpaid import duties, which amount to billions of naira.
The enforcement action is set to affect more than 60 private jets, owned by some of Nigeria’s most influential individuals, including prominent business moguls and top banking executives.
The operation, starting today, October 14, 2024, comes after months of investigations and a one-month verification exercise carried out between June and July 2024. During this verification process, the NCS assessed the status of private jet ownership in the country and reviewed the payment of import duties by jet owners.
However, many of these jets remain non-compliant with the payment of import duties, leading the government to take strict measures to recover the outstanding amounts.
Official documents exchanged between the Nigerian Customs Service and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, and obtained by The Punch, reveal that many private jets, which are foreign-registered but owned by Nigerians, are being operated without the necessary customs payments.
Among the jets being targeted in this clampdown are luxury aircraft such as the Bombardier Challenger 604 and Bombardier BD-700 Global series, each valued at tens of millions of dollars.
Reports indicate that as of Sunday, October 13, 2024, 11 private jet owners had already been notified of the impending grounding of their aircraft, with an additional 55 expected to receive official notification later today.
While some jet owners have begun paying off their duties, others are still in the process of negotiating settlements to avoid the grounding of their aircraft.
Several jet owners reportedly attempted to lobby the Presidency in hopes of halting the NCS’s enforcement actions, but these efforts were unsuccessful. As a result, some owners have quickly moved to settle their debts. For instance, the operators of a U.S.-registered Gulfstream G650ER reportedly paid N5.3 billion in import duties to avoid sanctions.
There have also been reports that some jet owners have flown their aircraft out of Nigeria to avoid the grounding order, but the NCS has stated that those jets will be restricted from flying within Nigerian airspace until the unpaid duties are settled.
This crackdown is part of a broader government effort to recover over N260 billion in unpaid import duties, which many private jet operators have dodged by exploiting loopholes, such as Temporary Import Permits (TIP).
These permits allow aircraft to operate in Nigeria temporarily but have been misused by some operators to evade the five percent duty on their aircraft.
