According to Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s minister of aviation and aerospace development, certain private aircraft are being utilised for illicit purposes such as drug trafficking and money laundering.
The disclosure was made by Keyamo on Thursday at the Abuja Ministry of Aviation during the formation of a Ministerial Taskforce Committee aimed at stopping illicit charter activities in the nation.
The minister claimed that these illicit operations have caused the aviation industry to lose billions of dollars and have created serious security concerns, even though he did not name the carriers. According to the minister, some of the people engaged in criminal activities are individuals who obtained licences to operate non-commercial aircraft but disregarded the terms of those licences.
Speaking to the members of the committee, Keyamo ordered them to 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.
