The operations and acquisition of private jets in Nigeria have risen exponentially.
From a mere 44 private business jets in the country in 2005, in 2024, that number has risen to 157, an increase of 357 percent over two decades.
However, the increase in the acquisition of these flying objects is not for just navigating in luxury from one corner of the country to another, but some of the owners use them for ‘nefarious’ activities according to the Ministerial Task Force on illegal charter operations and allied matters which released damning preliminary findings of some private airlines using their aircraft for both commercial and other dangerous activities within the country.
Chairman and secretary of the TaskForce, Capt. Ado Sanusi and Roland Iyayi respectively told the media at the weekend that even more alarming is the fact that the illegal air charter operators are not only restricted to small operators in the business but some high net worth individuals.
The committee also established in its findings that the procedure for manifesting passengers on this charter is opaque as so many of them operate to abandoned air stripes that are not monitored, helping to increase crimes and criminality in the country.
Aside from establishing some element of conflict and inadequacy in the regulatory regime associated with private flying in Nigeria, the Task Force also found the fact that the most complicit in all these illegal charters are the foreign registered aircraft that do not come under the purview of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and in most cases, the NCAA does not have a system which allows them proxy oversight over these foreign registered aircraft.
According to Iyayi, “ We also established that the conditions attached to the issuance for none commercial flight are not complied with by the operators. The NCAA has not enforced the same. In totality, all we have been able to deduce is that the Federal Government has incurred huge losses in terms of revenues, particularly in the last two decades. So, you ask, what are the next steps?
“Going by what I said earlier, we tend to engage the public. As I said, we need everybody out there to understand that the role of this task force is fact-finding and to recommend appropriate reforms necessary if possible or other relevant steps that can help to sanitise the system.”
Iyayi further disclosed that the unregulated activities of some of the private jet owners are inimical to national security necessitating serious worries from the national security institutions alleging illicit money operations and nefarious drug smuggling operations.
“On the back of these issues, the TaskForce decided upon inauguration to very quickly swing into action and look at all the issues as announced by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo and indeed dig deep to find out those allegations are founded.”
Reeling out its task which runs for 90 days including taking inventories of to take inventories of all the Private Non-Commercial Flight holders in the country and recommend practical steps to ensure they do not conduct illegal charter operations.
The other was to determine why that practice is prevalent despite regulatory controls, adding, “We are also required to call in all the professional licenses of pilots, cabin attendants, and dispatchers to determine their authenticity and validity.
“Beyond all of that, we are to recommend to the Honourable Minister tactical steps that can be taken to mitigate all the risks that can be taken to address the problems. Again, the minister indicated at the inauguration that he could from time to time come up with issues and ask us to address related matters.
“To do this, the task force decided painstakingly to design a thorough workplace and peculiar nuance of the industry embedded in the work of several tasks with a milestone intended and set objective with a three-month mandate given by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development.”
This committee was set up on the back of several complaints by Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo by legitimate air charter operators and on the back of disturbing security reports emanating from the country’s security institutions alleging illicit money operations and nefarious drug smuggling operations.
On the back of these issues, task force decided upon inauguration to very quickly swing into action and look at all the issues as announced by the Minister and indeed dig deep to find out those allegations are founded.
