Nigeria earned N79.96bn from solid minerals in 2019, highest in 5 years – NEITI

Nigeria‘s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI ) says Nigeria earned 79 N.96 billion from the solid minerals sector in 2019, according to its 2019 audit report on the sector, made public c in Abuja.

He said the figure, which represented accrued liabilities for the Federation and other sub-national entities, showed a 15% increase from the N69.47 billion recorded in 2018.

“The 2019 profits represented 16% of the total revenue of N496.28 billion that was accumulated by the Federation from the sector over a 13-year period (2007 to 2019).

“And it’s also the highest since 2007 when NEITI started reconciling payments in the solid minerals sector,” the report said.

A revenue breakdown showed that taxes paid to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), on behalf of the federation, accounted for N69.92 billion or 87.4% of the total, which is the highest flow to coffers of the federation.

It revealed that the royalties and fees paid to the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) and the Department of Mines Inspection (MID) amounted to respectively N2.37 billion (3.0%) and N2.55 billion (3.2%).

In addition, accumulated income to the states amounted to N 5.1 billion, an increase of 42% from the N2.1 billion recorded in 2018.

The NEITI report also found that the stock of 8.887 billion yen, from the solid minerals sector as of December 31, 2019, was distributed among the three levels of government in May 2020, based on the revenue sharing formula. existing.

He noted that the balance as of October 31, 2020, was N3.948 billion.

Giving a breakdown of the distribution, the report showed that the federal and state governments received N4.073 billion or 45.83 per cent and N2.065 billion or 23.25 per cent respectively.

Local governments also received N1.592 billion or 17.92 per cent, while the balance of N1.155 billion was distributed only to solid mineral-producing states as part of the 13 per cent bypass.

According to the report, out of 702 companies that paid royalties to the government in 2019, only 74 companies reached the materiality threshold of 3 million yen, which is an increase of 7.2% from the 69 entities that reached the materiality threshold in 2018.

“These 74 companies represented 87.63% of the total royalties of 2.50 Nbillion paid in 2019, with the top 5 companies – Dangote Cement PLC; Lafarge SA; Dangote Industries; Jules Berger; Reynolds Construction – paying over 50% of total royalties, ”the report says.

The report also found that a total of 1,296 mining permits were issued by the Bureau du cadastre Minier (MCO) in 2019, with the category of small-scale mining leases recording the highest with 602 permits granted, followed by 501 and 169 for exploration permits and quarry leases. respectively, while the lowest figure of 24 permits was recorded by mining leases.

The report further estimated the total volume of minerals produced in 2019 at 59.82 mt, with a five-year trend analysis of the minerals produced showing that a total of 224,188,056 metric tonnes were produced during the period. , although the total production for 2019 represents the highest of the five years reviewed.

“The volumetric figures for 2019 also represent an increase of 29.41% from the 46.7 million tonnes produced in 2018, closely followed by 43.08 million tonnes and 39.27 million tonnes produced respectively in 2016 and 2015, with the lowest production figure of 35.32 million tonnes recorded in 2017 ”. he noted.

An analysis of the sector’s income streams in the report also showed that 2019’s N79.96 billion was the highest in the past five years, followed by N69.47 billion and N69.2 billion. naira recorded in 2018 and 2015 respectively. In addition, N52.76 billion was recorded in 2017, while the sector amounted to N41.98 billion in 2016.

Regarding mineral exports, the report showed that the solid minerals sector accounted for N124.23 billion of the government’s total exports of N24.275 billion for 2019, or 0.51% of total exports for the year. ‘year.

Regarding the sector’s contribution to the economy, NEITI cited data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which indicated that mines and quarries contributed 0.26% of GDP in 2019, a figure higher than the contribution of 0.18% in 2018.

“Nigeria’s GDP in 2019 was 144.210 billion yen, with contributions from the solid minerals sector totalling 368.99 billion yen, or 0.2% of the total amount.

“This shows a steady growth in the sector’s contribution to the economy over the past five years, from a contribution of 0.12% in 2015 to 0.26% in 2019,” adds the report. (NAN)