The Federal Government of Nigeria has extended the deadline for private jet owners in Nigeria to settle unpaid import duties, granting a 30-day extension following a request by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). Initially, the NCS had planned to ground 60 private jets over unpaid duties amounting to billions of naira.
However, in an exclusive statement from Umar Farouk, the acting Managing Director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), it was revealed that the jets will not be grounded immediately. “We were supposed to ground the jets today (Monday) but we got another letter from customs requesting another 30-day window for the debtors to clear their import duties,” Farouk stated.
The NCS spokesperson, Abdullah Maiwada, also confirmed this extension, explaining that the decision allows operators more time to regularize their import duty payments. The new deadline for the verification exercise is now set for November 14, 2024.
This move comes after a one-month verification exercise conducted earlier this year to recover the unpaid duties, which had not been settled by the majority of private jet owners in the country.
