Keyamo says private jets used for money laundering, drug trafficking

Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, says some private aircraft operating in Nigeria are being used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other illegal activities.

Keyamo made the revelation at the min 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.

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The minister said 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 authencity 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.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.