NIGERIA · CUSTOMS
Key Facts
- —What happened Three banks have settled outstanding import duties on aircraft, according to Punch.
- —One payment About N3 billion, roughly US$2.2 million.
- —The mechanism The anti-corruption commission supplied Customs with a list of privately owned aircraft for duty verification.
- —The recovery claim More than N30 billion, about US$22 million, from private aircraft owners. No breakdown has been published.
- —The law Since 1 January 2026 the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 has reimposed duties and 7.5% VAT on imported aircraft, parts and domestic tickets.
- —The sourcing Same-day, single-outlet reporting. No Customs or commission official is named.
A recovery campaign that reaches bank-owned jets is unusual. A recovery figure identical to a five-year-old estimate deserves a second look.
Three Nigerian banks have settled outstanding import duties on aircraft as the Customs Service widens a verification drive over privately owned jets, Punch reported on Saturday.
What Punch Reports
Three banks have settled, with one payment of about N3 billion (roughly US$2.2 million). The banks are not named in the report and The Rio Times does not name them.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission supplied the Customs Service with a list of privately owned aircraft for import-duty verification, which is the mechanism driving the current round.
This is same-day reporting from a single outlet, and no Customs or commission official is quoted by name on either side. Every enforcement claim here rests on that account.
The N30 Billion Figure Needs a Caveat
Punch reports that the recovery drive has yielded more than N30 billion, about US$22 million, from private aircraft owners.
That is the same number that has circulated since December 2021, when a Customs verification committee estimated that around 90 private jets owed over N30 billion in unpaid duties. Both figures may be accurate, but one is an amount owed and the other an amount recovered.
Customs has not published a breakdown. The Rio Times reports the figure as Punch states it and notes the coincidence rather than treating the recovery as established.
How Jets Ended Up Owing Duty
Aircraft imported into Nigeria under temporary import permits attract no duty while the permit stands, and the exposure arises when a permit lapses or when an aircraft brought in temporarily remains in the country.
Verification exercises reconstruct that history from registration and flight records, which is slow work and the reason these campaigns run for years rather than weeks.
Earlier reporting showed the campaign reaching bank-owned aircraft. A leading Nigerian bank’s United States-registered Gulfstream G650ER was grounded over an alleged N1.9 billion duty bill, then worth about US$1.3 million, Tribune Online reported in July 2024.
The Law Changed in January
Since 1 January 2026 the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 has reimposed duties and 7.5% value-added tax on imported aircraft, engines, spare parts and maintenance equipment, and applied 7.5% VAT to domestic airline tickets.
That reverses an exemption airlines had held for years and is already in force rather than pending. It applies to commercial carriers as well as to private owners, and it changes the arithmetic of every future import.
Why Banks Are in This Story
Nigerian banks have been among the larger domestic owners of business aircraft, held directly or through subsidiaries, and an aircraft on a bank’s books is a visible and traceable asset in a way that private ownership structures often are not.
That visibility is why a verification exercise reaches them first. It is also why a settlement is the rational response: a grounded aircraft is a depreciating asset generating no return.
What to Watch
Eight months into the reimposition of aviation duties and VAT, the question is what it does to fares and fleet costs, and whether airline lobbying to reverse it gains traction.
On the enforcement side, the test is whether Customs publishes a breakdown of the N30 billion. Until it does, the recovery total remains a claim rather than an audited figure.
More: Africa news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened?
Three Nigerian banks settled outstanding aircraft import duties, one of them paying about N3 billion (roughly US$2.2 million), according to Punch.
Which banks?
Not named in the reporting.
How much has been recovered?
Punch reports more than N30 billion, about US$22 million. Customs has not published a breakdown.
What is the role of the anti-corruption commission?
It supplied Customs with a list of privately owned aircraft for import-duty verification.
Has the tax treatment of aircraft changed?
Yes. Since 1 January 2026 the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 has reimposed duties and 7.5% VAT on imported aircraft, parts and domestic tickets.
Sources: Punch, Tribune Online, Daily Trust, Nigeria Tax Act 2025, Guardian Nigeria.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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