Dati: Illegal Private Jet Operators are Sabotaging Nigeria’s Economy

By Chinedu Eze

The Coordinating General Manager, Corporate Communications of Aviation Agencies, Mr. Yakubu Dati, has said Nigeria loses over N10 billion annually to private jet operators that engage in illegal charter services, especially with foreign-registered aircraft.

Dati also alleged that many of the private jet owners give them out for illegal charter services while they are still documented as privately-owned aircraft for personal use on the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) records.

He said by doing that these illegal operators rip off the country of well-deserved revenue and also deny businesses to legally registered commercial charter operators that abide by the regulations as enunciated by NCAA.

Dati was reacting to criticism in response to a recent circular issued by NCAA which directed non-scheduled aircraft services to pay certain fees at take-off, stating that foreign registered aircraft should pay $4,000 (N640,000) for every take off, except round trips; while locally registered aircraft shall pay $3,000 (N480,000); a directive that many operators described as stringent and impracticable.

Dati explained that it was to stop the exploitation of the country and also to grow the business of registered charter operators that NCAA slammed the fees to check the excesses of operators who use their aircraft to carry out illegal services, disclosing that Nigerians who own foreign registered private jets siphon over N10 billion annually from the country to pay foreign cockpit crew, charges and taxes overseas.

These operators, he said, also abstain from paying import duties, five per cent VAT charges and also five per cent charges to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

He said the total amount of money that Nigeria loses to these operators is estimated to be over N15 billion annually, not including charges paid by aircraft used for charter services, which most of them illegally deploy the aircraft when in use in the country.

He said out of 139 private jets operating in Nigeria, 87 are registered overseas while 52 are registered locally and further explained that when aircraft is registered overseas it is assumed that it is visiting Nigeria as it usually registered under a foreign operator and the implication of this is that it will not pay import duty when coming into Nigeria.

“The aircraft pilots and engineers must be foreigners whose licenses are registered in that country the aircraft is registered and this means that no Nigerian is operating any of these 87 aircraft as pilot; no Nigerian engineer can be employed to maintain the aircraft. Then every year the owner of the aircraft must pay charges to continue to maintain the aircraft under the foreign operator in which the aircraft was registered,” Dati also explained.

But airline operators said the new regulation is sweeping and does not categorize the illegal and legal operators, saying that the new circular was obnoxious and unrealistic, adding that it is despotic if NCAA arbitrarily make laws without involving the operators and other stakeholders. They also insisted that there must be checks and balances to avoid the abuse of the system, even by the regulatory authority.

“Is the payment meant for navigational charges or safety oversight or for what? We pay N5,000 for safety oversight. We are strongly objecting to this directive because all charges must be either aeronautical charges or for safety oversight, which is five per cent of the cost of charter service. So why put blanket punitive measures on everybody?” an operator queried.

Dati, defending the new directive, calculated that the average cost of every charter is $7,000 per hour and conservatively every aircraft operates three hours charter per day and when multiplied with 69 aircraft, which is the estimated number of foreign registered aircraft that operate illegal charter, it amounts to 207 hours per day.

“So these aircraft earn $1,449,000 million per day and the five per cent VAT tax and five per cent NCAA charges which they do not pay, if deducted from the above earning would amount to $144, 900 per day. In a year this would amount to $51, 584, 400 or N8. 2 billion and this is a fragment of the import duties which is estimated to be in billions of dollars which these aircraft owners did not pay before they were brought into the country, he added.

But operators said that NCAA is incompetent, remarking that it explained why the agency could not make laws that would specifically punish those who infringe on the regulations guiding air operations in the country; rather, it introduced obnoxious regulation that is sweeping and impracticable.

Original article:  http://www.thisdaylive.com