Delinquent billionaires

If there is one country where the wealthy are venerated, almost worshipped, and the poor denigrated and almost trampled upon, it is Nigeria. The rich wear objects of their wealth about to attract acclaim. One of such objects is ownership of private jets. It is no more fashionable among the rich, be they pastors or businessmen, to fly first class by the general commercial planes, nor is it even distinctive enough to hire private planes, they must have their own jets, be free to move about as deemed fit – even if at great cost.

However, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has exposed the failure of the “big men”, to pay the state due rates and fees that would keep the system running. The service pointed out in June that this class of the nouveau riche had been mandated to come forward with relevant papers for verification. The service said many of them have not paid import duties over the years. They were said to have cleverly dodged payments by opting for interim import with a view to slashing off much of the duties. This was largely confirmed when they failed to respond to the 30-day ultimatum to get their papers verified. Only six were said to have complied.

Five months after, the NCS said it had obtained the permission of the Federal Government to ground the jets of as many as have failed to comply within the window allowed for perfection of their papers. Ninety-one fell within the category and the NCS wrote to agencies in the aviation sector to ground them. But, just before this could be done, the Federal Ministry of Aviation placed a stop order on the communication. By that, none of the agencies could go ahead with the memorandum sent by the Customs.

This appears all too familiar. At a time when Nigeria is confronted with a biting economic crunch caused mainly by inability to generate sufficient income, the aviation ministry is blocking efforts to rake in N30 billion by those who have owed the country over the years. It is curious that the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, waited till the last minute to countermand the memorandum from the Customs.

He was aware all the while that the Customs issued the ultimatum to get the private jet owners to perfect their documents, yet waited for the order to be placed before taking this seemingly unpatriotic step.

We call on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, who has the duty to ensure that government’s decisions are implemented speedily to ensure that the minister does not stand in the way of raking in sorely needed fund into the government coffers.

Light should be promptly beamed on the activities of agencies under the Ministry of Aviation, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), National Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), with a view to ensuring that no one stands in the way of collecting rates, dues and fees as appropriate. In recent times, it has been revealed that many of the commercial airlines as well as owners of the private jets fail to pay the Value Added Tax, parking charges and annual rates as due, with the authorities doing nothing about it. This should stop. If government decides to assist operators in the industry, this should be a clear policy duly communicated to them, with the period specified.

Mr. Sirika who supervises the sector is a respected professional who should understand the implications of non-payment of the requisite charges by the jet owners. Anyone owing must be made to pay. In the case of the private jet owners, these are luxury goods for which there should be no waiver. They are described as billionaires and Very Important Personalities and should not be allowed to feed and feast on the public. A convenient point to start is to name and shame those involved since they failed to comply with instructions to perfect their papers within the time allowed for such.

It should be noted too, that allowing people to fly about in and out of the country without due registration is fraught with danger. At a time that the country is confronting security challenges, we should not be so negligent.  (The Nation)