Many Private Jets Have Left Nigeria Since Owners Verification Exercise Started Last Month – Customs Boss

Many private jets had left Nigeria since owners verification exercise for owners started last month – Customs boss.

He said only a few private jets owners have shown up to pay duty since the service started owners’ verification exercise.

CGC also disclosed N2b was realized when a similar private jet verification exercise was carried out in 2019.

According to NCS, private jets used in Nigeria must pay duty while those on a temporary importation visit are not obliged to do so.

Last month, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) announced the commencement of verification exercise for private jet owners aimed at identifying improperly imported private aircraft without documentation, ensuring proper imports and maximum revenue collection.

Giving an update on the private jet owners’ verification exercise, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, explained that a good number of private jet owners had left Nigeria since the announcement was made last month.

“Very few of them have shown up for verification and we gathered from intelligence that a good number of them have been leaving Nigeria since the announcement was given because they would not want to be verified,” Adeniyi said in recent interview with Arise News Channel.

According to Adeniyi, the service started the verification exercise because only a few private jets owners have shown up to pay duty.

“We have seen so many of these aircraft flying and our record tends to show that only a few of them have shown up to pay duty and this is why we are bringing this verification up,” he said.

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The CGC also disclosed that the service realized as much as N2 billon when a similar private jet owners verification exercise was carried out in 2019.

“Recall that this was not the first time we did it. We did something close to this in 2019 and the exercise fetched us as much as N2bn within the short time that we did it.

“We discovered that there were more private jets that were operating in Nigeria but had not been brought under the ambit of the law. So, the data that we got from the NCAA showed that only very few of them paid customs duty to operate in Nigeria,” Adeniyi stated.

According to the customs boss, private jets used in Nigeria are required to pay duty while those on a temporary importation visit are not obliged to pay any duty.

“If they are here for a brief period in the Nigerian air space and go, they are not obliged to pay any duty. If they were here on a temporary importation visit but once they are here and used within Nigeria, they are liable to pay duty,”

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