Nigeria Loses $10m To Foreign Registered Private Jets

[Shola Sholaz]

The federal government said, yesterday, that Nigerian owners of foreign registered private jets were taking out of the country annually over $10 million through payment of foreign cockpit crew, charges and taxes overseas.
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According to government, this has further assisted to boost capital flight out of the country.
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Coordinating General Manager, Corporate Communications of Aviation Agencies, Mr. Yakubu Dati, who disclosed this in Lagos, also revealed that owners of private jets who use them to operate illegal charter services were ripping off the country of well-deserved revenue and destroying legally registered commercial charter operators who abide by the regulations of  Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.
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He said it was to stop the exploitation of the country and grow the business of registered charter operators that the regulatory agency slammed $3,000 on every operation of private jet owners who use their aircraft to carry out illegal services.
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He said operators of foreign registered private jets also abstained from paying import duties, five per cent VAT charges and five per cent passenger service charge, PSC, to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, thus denying the country of the needed revenue.
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He said the total amount of money that Nigeria loses to this category of operators was in excess of $15 billion annually, excluding charges paid by aircraft used for charter services.
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Dati said of the 139 private jets operating in Nigeria, 87 were registered overseas, while 52 were registered locally.
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He explained that when aircraft was registered overseas, it was assumed to be visiting Nigeria as it usually registered under a foreign operator, adding that the implication of this was non-payment import duty when coming into Nigeria.