TO recover import duties from some private jet owners in the country, the Federal Government, through the Nigeria Customs Service, has grounded about 60 private jets across major airports in Nigeria.
It was also gathered that private jet hangars in Lagos and Abuja airports were reportedly sealed up. However, owners of the aircraft, including bank chiefs and multinational oil companies among other individuals, have begun to lobby the Presidency to secure the release of their jets.
Some of the grounded luxury aircraft include Bombardier BD-700 Global 6000, BD-700 Global 6500, BD-700 Global 7500, among others. Officials of the NCS and those in the aviation sector confirmed this in separate interviews on Wednesday.
There are reports that duties are not being paid on the majority of private jets currently in the country, with the Nigeria Customs Service seeking to recover unpaid import duties running into several billions of naira.
The Customs had asked private jet owners to proceed on a verification exercise with the government. The exercise was to determine defaulters in the payment of import duty.
Recall that on October 14, 2024, this newspaper reported that the Federal Government, through the Nigeria Customs Service, had planned to ground over 60 private jets owned by very important persons in the country over unpaid import duty beginning from that day.
This was not implemented as the NCS later that same day announced the extension of 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 said about the development. The PUNCH questioned the agency’s silence on the matter, but the spokesperson of the service, Abdullahi Maiwada, hinted that varying court cases hindered the Customs from executing its vow at that time.
However, on Wednesday, it was gathered that the NCS had quietly commenced the grounding of both private and corporately-owned jets. The exercise started on Monday without any fresh notice, according to those affected.
The officials of the agency of the NCS sealed some aircraft at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The drastic enforcement came barely seven months after this newspaper reported Customs warnings against defaulters.
When contacted on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the service, Maiwada, confirmed the development, stressing that the service won’t rest until all that is due to the government is collected from the airlines.
He 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’, 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.”
Maiwada recalled a long period of appeals extended to the defaulters to validate their jets or pay the duty, but noted that this fell on deaf ears.
“Now that we have grounded them, they will have to comply. We are hopeful and we know that they will comply,” he stated.
Meanwhile, impeccable sources in customs familiar with the development told our correspondent that some of the aircraft owners had started to make contacts even with the presidency for the release of their jets.
One of the top banks in Nigeria has already promised to pay next Tuesday, while another is negotiating with Customs in proxy. An energy company with three jets has also promised to pay in the coming week.
However, this newspaper gathered that there were rumours that the Customs service was 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.
A document, dated June 4, 2025, said to have been signed by Deputy-Comptroller General, one C.K. Niagwan, on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Customs, noted that the “temporary unsealing” of the grounded aircraft received the approval of the Comptroller.
According to the document, 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.