Nigeria Customs Service has threatened to impound private jets in the country with unverified documents as from July 6, 2021.
Mr. Joseph Attah, Public Relations Officer of NCS, said private jet owners have been given a one-month grace period in line with an ongoing audit of privately-owned aircraft operating in Nigeria.
Attah said this became necessary as some private jet owners brought in aircraft under the Temporary Import Permit (PIP).
He urged owners of private aircraft or their representatives to report to the Customs headquarters in Abuja before July 6, with the necessary documents which include Aircraft Certificate of Registration, NCAA’s Flight Operations Compliance Certificate (FOCC), NCAA’s Maintenance Compliance Certificate (MCC), NCAA’s Permit for non-Commercial Flights (PNCF) and Temporary Import Permit (TIP) where applicable.
The NCS spokesperson said; “NCS believes that owners of private aircraft are highly-placed individuals who would be willing to comply with extant laws of the land governing importation of the aircraft they own, this includes payments of all appropriate duties and taxes.
“The period for such temporary importation for some of the aircraft, has expired and they have neither renewed nor re-exported the aircraft in line with extant laws governing that in Nigeria. At the end of the verification, some of the things we are suspecting will come to light and we will make further details known.
“As an agency of the Federal government responsible for enforcement of laws governing imports and exports in Nigeria, Custons will not fail to invoke appropriate sanctions on any defaulting private aircraft owner immediately after the expiration of the verification period on Tuesday July 6, 2021.”
He noted that the reason of the holistic audit was to ensure that all aircraft privately owned in the Nigeria were properly imported and cleared with all appropriate taxes paid.
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