The national public relations officer of the NCS, Joseph Attah, in a press briefing in Abuja, yesterday, said two weeks into the 30-day verification period, only 6 owners of private aircraft have presented their imports document for verification.

The NCS had, on May 31st, directed all private jet owners in the country to present relevant importation clearance documents to the agency from June 7 to July 6, 2021, for verification amidst concerns they are not paying taxes.

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.

Attah, who said the essence of verification is to unearth certain things, urged those who are yet to carry out their verification to do so, warning that the service will not hesitate to invoke appropriate sanctions.

He said: “We are aware that some people bought their aircraft under temporary importation arrangement and the period for such temporary importation some of them have, has since expired while some have neither renewed nor re-exported such aircraft in compliance with extant laws governing temporary importation in Nigeria.”

“Two weeks into the 30 days verification period, only six owners of private aircraft have responded to the invitation necessitating this update and reminders to those who have not responded to do so to avoid possible detention of their aircraft.”

The Customs, he stressed, believes that owners of private aircraft are highly placed individuals who will be willing to comply with extant laws of the land governing the importation of the aircraft they owned, which also includes payment of all appropriate duties and taxes.

As an agency of government responsible for enforcement of laws governing imports and exports in Nigeria, he said, NCS will not hesitate to invoke appropriate sanctions on any defaulting private aircraft owners immediately after the expiration of the verification period.