The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has initiated a comprehensive crackdown on private jet owners across the country, demanding the submission of their aircraft import documents for verification.
This directive targets at least 80 operators, who are required to present their documents at the NCS headquarters in Abuja.
In a recent notice, the NCS emphasized that the objective of this exercise is to identify private aircraft that have been improperly imported without the necessary documentation. The initiative aims to ensure proper import procedures are followed and to maximize revenue collection for the government.
“The Nigeria Customs Service announces a verification exercise for privately owned aircraft operating in Nigeria,” the statement read.
“This exercise aims to identify improperly imported private aircraft without documentation, ensuring proper imports and maximum revenue collection.”
The verification exercise is set to commence tomorrow and will span 30 days. The designated venue for this process is the Tariff and Trade Department Room at the NCS Headquarters, located at No. 4 Abidjan Street, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.
Private jet owners and operators are instructed to bring a set of critical documents, including the aircraft’s Certificate of Registration, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) Flight Operation Compliance Certificate, Maintenance Compliance Certificate, Permit for Non-Commercial Flights, and a Temporary Import Permit if applicable.
This move by the NCS follows a notable legal battle in 2021, where 17 owners of foreign-registered private jets, including prominent business figures and major commercial banks, filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government. They sought to prevent the grounding of their planes over allegations of unpaid import duties. The government had aimed to recover duties amounting to billions of naira, citing that several operators had exploited technical loopholes to evade these payments.
Last year, the Federal Government temporarily suspended the exercise, but recent approvals have reinvigorated efforts to address the non-payment of import duties. Approximately 91 private jets were previously grounded under similar allegations, with unpaid duties exceeding N30 billion.
The NCS’s current exercise marks a renewed effort to enforce compliance and ensure that all private jet operators meet their fiscal obligations, reinforcing the government’s commitment to accountability and proper regulation within the aviation sector.