Nigeria: VIPs lobby presidency as FG grounds 60 private jets
By Zuleihat Owuiye, Mamos Nigeria
The Federal Government, through the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has grounded about 60 private jets across major airports in Nigeria. The move is part of efforts to recover import duties from some private jet owners in the country. The jets, including luxury aircraft such as Bombardier BD-700 Global 6000, BD-700 Global 6500, and BD-700 Global 7500, were grounded due to unpaid import duties running into several billions of naira
The owners of the aircraft, including bank chiefs and multinational oil companies, have begun to lobby the Presidency to secure the release of their jets. Some of the affected owners have promised to pay the outstanding duties, while others are negotiating with the Customs Service. A top bank in Nigeria has already promised to pay next Tuesday, while another is negotiating with Customs in proxy. An energy company with three jets has also promised to pay in the coming week.
The NCS had asked private jet owners to proceed on a verification exercise with the government to determine defaulters in the payment of import duty. The exercise, which was initially set to begin in October 2024, was extended several times, but the NCS has now commenced the grounding of both private and corporately-owned jets. The agency’s spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, confirmed the development, stressing that the service won’t rest until all that is due to the government is collected from the airlines.
However, a document sighted by revealed that the Comptroller-General of Customs had approved the temporary unsealing of some of the grounded aircraft. The unsealing was to allow the operators to present all relevant documents regarding the affected aircraft and engage the service to discuss and agree on appropriate modalities for the settlement of outstanding duties and taxes.
A former deputy director of engineering of the defunct national carrier, Nigerian Airways, Frank Oruye, called on both operators of private jets and the NCS to adopt global best practices in their activities. He appealed to customers to pay what was due to the government and also called on Customs to be professional in their dealings. Retired Group Captain John Ojikutu, on the other hand, described the grounding of foreign-registered aircraft as a security threat to the country, blaming both Customs and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority for allowing an “unclear number of aircraft” to fly in the country.
