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FAMFA Oil, the company that made Folorunsho Alakija Africa's richest woman, faces a federal demand for 8.85 billion naira in unpaid customs duty on a single aircraft, about $6.7 million at 1,321.68 naira to the dollar, according to an investigation published by Secrets Reporters on Tuesday.
The Nigerian outlet reports that the company kept a fleet of three Bombardier jets, worth close to $200 million at current list prices, flying in and out of Nigeria for more than a decade on import papers that were expired, backdated or entirely absent. The matter is now before the courts.
The claim arises from a nationwide verification exercise ordered by Nigeria's Comptroller-General of Customs, aimed at privately owned aircraft using Nigerian airspace without properly clearing the country's import regime. An initial sweep ran in the second half of 2021, and a follow-up in mid-2024 cross-checked ownership records, temporary importation permits and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority clearance certificates against the aircraft actually parked on Nigerian tarmacs.
A temporary importation permit allows an aircraft to enter the country for a limited period without full duty, on condition it leaves again. Keeping one beyond that window, or operating without one, makes the aircraft liable for the duty in full.
FAMFA has not commented publicly, and none of the allegations has been tested in court.
The company sits at the centre of one of the more remarkable fortunes in African business. Alakija began her career as a secretary at the Merchant Bank of Nigeria, studied fashion design in England in the early 1980s and returned to found the high-end label Supreme Stitches, whose customers included Maryam Babangida, wife of the then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida.
Her company received an oil prospecting licence in 1993 covering a 617,000-acre block about 100 kilometres offshore. It was considered high risk and low value at the time.
FAMFA entered a joint venture with Star Deep Water Petroleum, a Chevron subsidiary, in September 1996, transferring a 40% stake. The block became OML 127 and the Agbami field within it began producing in 2008, turning out to be one of the most productive deepwater discoveries in Nigerian waters.
The Nigerian government then tried to take it. It claimed a 40% interest, followed by a further 10%, and Alakija fought the acquisition through the courts. The Supreme Court ruled in her favour in 2012, ending a decade-long battle, and the family retains 60% of the block.
FAMFA is jointly owned. The company said in 2021 that Corporate Affairs Commission records showed Folorunso Alakija holding 5,000,000 ordinary shares, or 50%, with her husband Modupe Folarin Alakija holding the other half. He chairs the company and she is executive vice chairman.
Forbes has valued her fortune at around $1 billion in recent rankings, with her position fluctuating on oil prices and the valuation of Nigerian upstream assets.
The family also owns Rose of Sharon Group and Dayspring Property Development.
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