The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), will commence an import verification exercise for private jet owners on Wednesday.
The 30-day exercise aims to identify improperly imported private aircraft lacking proper documentation, ensuring compliance and maximizing revenue collection, according to a public notice issued by Customs.
The notice states: “The Nigeria Customs Service announces a verification exercise for privately owned aircraft operating in Nigeria. This exercise aims to identify improperly imported private aircraft without documentation, ensuring proper imports and maximum revenue collection.”
Owners and operators of private jets are required to present relevant documents at the NCS headquarters in Abuja. The necessary documents include the aircraft Certificate of Registration, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) Flight Operation Compliance Certificate, NCAA’s Maintenance Compliance Certificate, NCAA’s Permit for Non-Commercial Flights, and a Temporary Import Permit, if applicable.
This initiative aims to clamp down on operators of improperly imported private jets in the country. No fewer than 80 operators are expected to participate in the verification process.
The latest plan to clamp down on operators of improperly imported private jets comes more than a year after the Federal Government initially suspended the action.
Over the past three years, the government has sought to recover import duties totaling billions of naira from private jet operators who exploited technical loopholes to evade these payments.
While a few private jet owners complied and paid the mandatory import duty following significant recovery efforts led by the Hameed Ali-led Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), many have yet to fulfill this statutory obligation.
Numerous private aircraft operators in Nigeria have allegedly used regulatory loopholes to fraudulently obtain Temporary Import Permits (TIP) from the NCS instead of paying the required import duty.
The TIP, initially valid for 12 months and extendable twice by six months each, has been indefinitely extended by several operators, prompting previous clampdowns by Customs.
Consequently, at least 80 private jet operators are expected to present their aircraft import documents for verification during the upcoming 30-day exercise.
“Based on the data we have, we are expecting no fewer than 80 private aircraft operators for the verification exercise. These include operators of about 20 private aircraft that have been imported since the last verification exercise,” a senior official involved in the process stated.
This exercise aims to enforce the payment of mandatory import duties. Aircraft operators who fail to comply may face the grounding of their jets.
The TIP has been described by stakeholders as a fraudulent means for evading the mandatory import duty. Importers of private jets, particularly foreign-registered ones, are required to pay 5% of the jet’s value as import duty.
However, due to the high costs associated with private jets, some owners prefer to avoid this payment, according to Customs officials.
Instead, these operators obtain a TIP, claiming the aircraft is in the country temporarily, pointing to the International Civil Aviation Organization Convention Article 24, which addresses Customs waivers for commercial aircraft operating temporarily in a country.
The new leadership at Customs is determined to ensure that all operators fulfill their import duty obligations.
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