THE increase in the number of foreigner registered private/corporate jets in Nigeria has been attributed to lower insurance cover, convenience to secure crew as well the a ploy to conceal ownership, The Nation has learnt.

Investigations reveal that many influential Nigerians, who have acquired private/ corporate jets in the last few years, have acquired them under foreign registration.

Investigations aslo reveal that foreign registration of private/corporate jets will reduce the insurance cover significantly because Nigeria is considered as a high risk country.

A part of lower insurance cover for aircraft with foreign registration, the owners of the aircraft in a bid not to trace the ownership of such luxury equipment to them request charter companies to manage such  aircraft for commercial utilisation, maintenance schedule consistency and other technical considerations.

An industry source hinted that it is commercially convenient to dispose a private jet with foreign registration operating in Nigeria as opposed to an aircraft with Nigerian registration.

He said the second hand value of a private jet with foreign registration is more valuable as opposed to a private jet with Nigerian registration.

Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Captain Mukthar Usman, said there are 146 corporate jets in the country, of which only 46 are registered in Nigeria while 100 has foreign registration.

Confirming the reasons  there is an increase in foreign registered private jets, NCAA spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, said the owners of such equipment consider many factors.

He listed the factors to include lower insurance cover as well as how to optimise second value for such equipment.

Adurogboye said: “There is nothing wrong with people giving foreign registration to their aircraft. All that is critical is that they subject the operations of their private jets in Nigeria to the prescribed rules and regulations rolled out for such category of operations by the regulator.

“At the NCAA, we have a list of such aircraft and the conditions of their registration. But, investigations reveal that people give foreign registration to their aircraft because they consider many factors such as country where there is lower insurance cover for taking their action.’’

“Some operators also do that because they want to conceal the identity of the aircraft owner; there is also the consideration for the second value for such aircraft. There are a lot of reasons.”