Solid minerals sector raked in N69.47bn in 2018 – NEITI

The latest audit report released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that the solid minerals sector contributed N69.47 billion to the nation’s federation revenue in 2018 alone.

According to the report which was released to newsmen by NEITI’s Director, Communications & Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, the sector has contributed over N400 billion to the federation account in 12 years, adding that it contributed the highest earnings in 2018.

The report also recommended a shift in attention from oil to the development of the solid minerals sector.

A breakdown of the report showed an increase of N16.71 billion representing 31.67% over the 2017 revenue of N52.76 billion. The earnings (N69.47 billion) also accounted for 16.69% of the total revenues (N416.3billion) that accrued to the sector from 2007 to 2018.

The audit report also reconciled companies’ payments and government’s receipts from the sector in 2018, as well as tracked production volumes and trends of revenues from the sector to the federation account from 2007 to 2018.

The breakdown of the receipts as captured in the report showed that taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) accounted for N65.69 billion (94.56% of the total) while fees and royalties paid to the Mines Inspectorate Department (MID) and Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) accounted for N2.21 billion (3.18%) and N1.57 billion (2.26%) respectively.

The report read: “Nigeria has published eight cycles of solid minerals audit reports since it signed up to the EITI. The sector has contributed ₦416.32 billion in revenues to the federation in 12 years.

Over half of this figure or (N279.0 billion) was earned between 2015 and 2018. This shows that there had been a remarkable increase in revenues accruing to the Federation from the solid minerals sector over the years.

“The just released report further highlighted that the sector had over the years, also witnessed fluctuations in revenue earnings.

For instance, in 2015, N64.46 billion accrued to the federation, while in 2016, the earnings dipped to N43.22 billion. It will be recalled that 2016 was also the year that the Nigerian economy slid into recession.

“The report disclosed that the main sources of revenue flows from solid minerals remains various categories of taxes, royalty, permits, annual services and sub-national payments.

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The report also stated that sub-national payments and other taxes accounted for ₦1.54 billion representing about 2.23% of total government revenue from the sector.”

On production, the NEITI report further disclosed that “46.68 million metric tons of minerals valued at N47.87 billion were produced in Nigeria during the period. “The production data was based on minerals either used or sold during the year.

“A breakdown of the production volumes showed that limestone and granite accounted for about 80% of the total minerals produced. Limestone alone contributed 54.85% while granite accounted for 23.88% of minerals mined.”

A state-by-state production, according to the report, disclosed that in 2018, Ogun State accounted for 12.66 million metric tons (27.13%) of the total volume produced during the period under review as most of the mining activities in the country took place in the state.

The report showed that Ogun State was followed by Kogi and Benue states, each accounting for 22.88% and 10.10% respectively. However, on the bottom of the table are states like Enugu and Borno states which contributed 0.02% and 0.001% respectively.

Also, Dangote Cement Plc and Larfarge Africa Plc dominated activities in minerals produced by companies, as both companies contributed 57.22% of the total minerals produced in 2018. The report indicated that while Dangote cement accounted for 46.38%, Larfarge Africa was responsible for 10.84%.

The sector’s contribution to employment in 2018 was 9,873, with more Nigerian nationals employed by the sector. In relation to gender, 96.53% of jobs were occupied by men, while women took 3.47%. Only six physically challenged persons were recorded as being employed in the sector in 2018.