Nigerian Customs seizes about 60 private aircraft in Lagos and Abuja over unpaid import duties

NIGERIAN authorities have seized about 60 private jets across the country and sealed hangers at the Lagos and Abuja airports as part of a major clampdown on owners who are refusing to pay import duties on their aircraft.

One of the world's fastest growing private jet markets, Nigeria has become a haven for planes like the Gulfstream 550, which are very popular with the rich. Celebrity clergymen, bank chiefs, politicians and businessmen all regularly ride private jets in Nigeria, using these planes for both local and international travel.

However, a lot of these private jet owners are yet to pat the required import duty on their planes, leading the federal government to get the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), to seize the aircraft. Some of the grounded luxury aircraft include planes such as the Bombardier BD-700 Global 6000, BD-700 Global 6500 and BD-700 Global 7500.

Last year, the NCS asked private jet owners to proceed on a verification exercise with the government to determine defaulters in the payment of import duty. After it ended, the government extended the verification exercise for private jet owners by one month, from October 14, 2024, to November 14, 2024.

At the expiration of the deadline on November 14, nothing was done but according to NCS spokesman Abdullahi Maiwada, several court cases prevented the agency from executing action at the time. On Monday this week, however, the NCS quietly moved into action, commencing the grounding of both private and corporately-owned jets.

Mr Maiwada said:“Yes, enforcement has started. The aircraft are grounded for the non-payment of customs duty and as soon as they come over to regularise their payment and give what is due to Nigerians, they will get it back.

“We issued a statement when we started the verification and we extended the period and even over extended the period and now that we are acting, everyone already knows our reason. We just have to enforce, we have to collect revenue for Nigerians so that it will be used for Nigerians.”

Apparently, some of the aircraft owners have started making contact with the presidency to try and secure the release of their jets. One of the top banks in Nigeria has already promised to pay next Tuesday, while another is negotiating with the NCS and one energy company with three jets has also promised to pay in the coming week.

There are also rumours that the NCS is making moves to unseal the grounded aircraft while inviting the jet owners to a meeting in Abuja to discuss how the issue would be permanently resolved. Apparently,  the temporary unsealing of the aircraft was to allow the operators the chance 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.

The circular expressed that the unsealing was solely to facilitate compliance, adding that this did not constitute a waiver of any statutory obligations. Meanwhile, our correspondent learnt the unsealing was only for a few of the grounded jets.

Former aviation official Retired Group Captain John Ojikutu stated that most of the grounded aircraft were foreign-based, a development he described as a security threat to the country. He blamed both the NCS and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority for allowing an unclear number of aircraft to fly into the country.