Lax regulatory oversight seen fueling illegal private jet boom

The continuous surge in the number of private jets operating in Nigeria—a fleet that has now grown to triple the size of the country’s commercial airline sector—has exposed lax regulatory oversight and a thriving shadow market of illegal charter operations.

Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, recently disclosed that Nigeria boasts the largest business aviation market in Africa. Nearly 240 private jets are currently active in the country, completely eclipsing the struggling domestic commercial airline sector, which numbers just about 80 aircraft dedicated to scheduled operations.

Aviation stakeholders warn that this lopsided growth does not reflect a healthy, vibrant sector. Instead, they argue it highlights a regulatory blind spot where unauthorized, foreign-registered private aircraft are permitted to run illicit, commercial-grade charter operations with minimal interference.

The financial and security implications are staggering. A report by the Ministerial Task Force on Illegal Private Charter Operations revealed that the Federal Government has lost over ₦120 billion in revenue over the past decade due to tax evasion, regulatory loopholes, and weak enforcement by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The task force, commissioned by Keyamo, flagrantly points out significant security breaches, a lack of interagency cooperation, and outdated policies that continue to stifle the structured growth of the aviation industry.

Findings show that private jet owners routinely exploit a Permit for Non-Commercial Flight (PNCF) license to bypass stringent safety checks, commercial taxes, and route fees. Disturbingly, they often do this with the active collusion of legitimate Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders, who surreptitiously camouflage these illegal commercial flights under their own operational covers.

Authorities, including the National Security Adviser, warn that opaque passenger manifests and foreign-registered aircraft make it difficult to track flights, enabling money laundering, drug smuggling, and illegal border crossings.

“The proliferation of private jets in Nigeria is a perfect case study of ‘developmental silos’ and the accountability gap. When the top 10 percent earners in an economy opt out of shared systems, the shared system collapses for everyone else,” Samuel Samuel Caulcrick, the former Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) told BusinessDay.

He described the the 240 private jets which operate in Nigeria as “wealth opting out of a system.”

“Legacy carriers traditionally survive because of one thing: First + Business Class. That premium cabin subsidises the coach fares for the rest of us, the air travellers. But when CEOs, politicians, and top earners move to private jets, they pull out of that premium cabin. Revenue for legacy airlines drops; coach (economy) fares go up; this means fewer Nigerians can fly,” Caulcrick explained.

He said Nigeria is literally pricing ordinary citizens out of the sky to subsidise private luxury.

“Private Non-Commercial Flight license is meant for personal use. But many are running illegal charters under it. No taxes, no NCAA commercial oversight, no route fees paid properly.

“Foreign-registered jets are worse. The NCAA has limited reach unless it spends heavily on surveillance. In an election year, that scrutiny drops further, and opacity rises,” Calcrick said.

According to him,when the rich don’t pay commercial aviation taxes, airlines struggle, the public pays higher fares and the state earns less to fund airports.

Olumide Ohunayo, industry analyst and director of research at Zenith Travels told BusinessDay that having the highest private jet in Africa is not a reflection of the vibrancy of the aviation sector whether it is for the scheduled or non-scheduled operators.

According to him, this is just a reflection of our poor monitoring, management and regulatory conditions attached to that sector.

“The sector should be a revenue generator because the demand is inelastic. From the moment the aircraft gets into the country till it departs, it should yield revenue for the ecosystem.
But sadly, it is not so,” Ohunayo said.

He said for these private jets, the process of entry, usage period, custom payment, regulatory fees and certification are often not acrtied out the right way.

“Some run non-scheduled commercial operations instead of charter and these money don’t come to the agencies apart from statutory flying over and parking fees. They have been robbing the system and that is why it is growing. It just shows we need to do a lot,” he said.

Ohunayo stressed on the need to tighten the regulatory and monitoring of private jets.

“The rules are there and always easy to play with. It is those in the industry that tell these private jet operators the loopholes in the regulation that allow them keep those aircraft, keep the foreign crew, the foreign registered aircraft and also allow them use the jets for commercial purposes.

“Most of the owners of these jets are powerful. You are going to step on stones. Having 240 private jets in Nigeria that is not translating to development means there is something wrong with the regulation and compliance,” he explained.