- Some private jets used for money laundering, drug trafficking – Keyamo
- Minister inaugurates taskforce to checkmate illegal chartered operations in Nigeria
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has made an allegation of economic sabotage against some private jet owners in the country.
He claimed that certain private aircraft operating in Nigeria are being used for money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illicit activities.
Keyamo made the revelation at the Ministry of Aviation in Abuja on Thursday, when he inaugurated a Ministerial Taskforce Committee to checkmate illegal chartered operations in the country.
Though the minister did not mention the names of the airlines, he asserted that these illegal activities have made the sector lose billions of dollars and raised serious security concerns.
The minister further stated that some of those involved in the illegal activities are those who acquired licenses for non-commercial flights operations but gone against the stipulated agreement of the licenses.
Addressing the committee members, Keyamo mandated that they take inventory of all non-commercial flights operators, investigate all professional licenses and checkmate their authenticity as well as recommend disciplinary measures against airlines found culpable.
The eight-man committee was chaired by the Chief Executive Office of Aero Contractors, Ado Sanusi, and the committee is expected to report all findings to the minister within the next three months.
In April this year, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority suspended three private jet owners for engaging in commercial operations in violation of their certificates.
The apex regulatory body also set April 19, 2024 deadline for the re-evaluation of all holders of Permit for Non-Commercial Flights (PNCF) to ascertain their compliance with regulatory requirements.
A statement personally signed by Capt. Chris Najomo, Acting Director-General, Civil Aviation said that the three jet owners were suspended for violating the Permit for Non-Commercial Flights certificate issued to the private jet owners.
Najomo in the statement had said that the NCAA set up a team to monitor the activities of the private jet owners who were found guilty of the annexure provision of their PNCF and Part 9114 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) 2023.
He insisted that the apex civil aviation body had zero tolerance for violation of regulations.
To further sanitize the general aviation sector, Najomo emphasized that the agency had called for a re-evaluation of all holders of PNCF on or before April 19, 2024 to ascertain compliance with regulatory requirements.
“All PNCF holders will be required to submit relevant documents to the authority within the next 72 hours.
“This riot act is also directed at existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders, who utilize aircraft listed on their PNCF for commercial charter operations.
“It must be emphasized that only aircraft listed in the Operation Specifications of the AOC are authorized to be used in the provision of such charter services. Any of those AOC holders who wish to use the aircraft for charter operations must apply to the NCAA to delist the affected aircraft from the PNCF and include it into the AOC operations specification,” Najomo said.
Najomo for the umpteenth time appealed to the travelling public not to patronize any airline charter operator who does not hold a valid AOC issued by the NCAA, whenever they intended to procure charter operations services.
He further encouraged the legitimate players in the aviation industry to report the activity of such unscrupulous elements to the NCAA promptly for necessary action.
Over the years, there have been allegations that most of the private jet owners are illegally involved in hire and reward services.
The NCAA recently said that it had deployed its officials to the General Aviation Terminals and private wings of the nation’s airports to monitor activities of the PNCF holders.