The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives ( NEITI) said the country earned N69.47 billion from the Solid Mineral sector in 2018.
NEITI disclosed this in its latest audit report of the solid minerals sector released on Sunday in Abuja, indicating that the figure was the highest since NEITI commenced reconciliation of payments in the sector.
It noted that the figure showed an increase of N16.71 billion representing 31.67 per cent over the 2017 revenue of N52.76 billion.
“The earnings N69.47 billion also accounted for 16.69 per cent of the total revenues N416.3billion that accrued to the sector from 2007 to 2018,’’ it said.
The audit report 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.
A breakdown of the receipts showed that taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) accounted for N65.69 billion 94.56 per cent 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 per cent and N1.57 billion 2.26 per cent, respectively.
It revealed that Nigeria had published eight cycles of solid minerals audit reports since it signed up to the NEITI, adding that the sector has contributed N416.32billion in revenues to the federation in 12 years.
It noted that over half of this figure or N279.0 billion was earned between 2015 and 2018. This, it said showed that there had been a remarkable increase in revenues accruing to the Federation from the solid minerals sector over the years.
The report further highlighted that the sector had over the years, also witnessed fluctuations in revenue earnings.
It said that 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 also disclosed that the main sources of revenue flows from solid minerals remains various categories of taxes, royalty, permits, annual services and sub-national payments.
It also stated that sub-national payments and other taxes accounted for N1.54 billion representing about 2.23 per cent of total government revenue from the sector.
On production, the NEITI 2018 Report disclosed that 46.68 million metric tons of minerals valued at N47.87 billion were produced in the country during the period.
It noted that 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 per cent of the total minerals produced. Limestone alone contributed 54.85 per cent while granite accounted for 23.88 per cent of minerals mined.
On state-by-state production; the report disclosed that in 2018, most of the mining activities in the country took place in Ogun State.
“The state accounted for 12.66 million metric tons 27.13 per cent of the total volume produced during the period under review.
“Ogun State was followed by Kogi and Benue states, each accounting for 22.88 and 10.10 per cent respectively. However, on the bottom of the table are states like Enugu and Borno states which contributed 0.02 and 0.001 per cent respectively.
The report also revealed that Dangote Cement Plc and Larfarge Africa Plc dominated activities in minerals produced by companies.
The two companies, it added contributed 57.22 per cent of the total minerals produced in 2018, while Dangote cement accounted for 46.38 per cent, Larfarge Africa was responsible for 10.84 per cent.
The report disclosed that 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 per cent of jobs were occupied by men, while women took 3.47 per cent.
“Only six physically challenged persons were recorded as being employed in the sector in 2018,’’ it said.
On the contribution of the solid minerals industry to Nigeria’s GDP, the report aligned with the National Bureau of Statistics figure of N224.79 billion representing 0.18 per cent of the country’s GDP.
A breakdown of the figure showed that quarrying and other minerals accounted for 0.16 per cent while coal and metal ores accounted for 0.01 per cent each, respectively.
One other feature of the solid minerals report for 2018 is the focus on the performance of the strategic minerals identified by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
The minerals are coal; lead, zinc, limestone, barites, bitumen, gold and iron ore, adding that the seven strategic minerals mined in 2018 contributed 49.7 per cent to royalty payments declared in the year.
The report further revealed that 47 companies exported ores, concentrates and metal ingots worth 144.38 million dollars in 2018.
Ores and concentrates accounted for 34.02 million dollars with China identified as the principal destination of Nigeria’s mineral exports.
“China received 52, 500.51 metric tons of the ores and concentrates valued at 27,926,897.05 dollars which is 79.52 per cent of the total minerals exported in 2018,’’ it added.
The report also listed Germany; South Korea, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Benin Republics as other top destinations of Nigeria’s minerals.
It added that in 2018; 1, 516 mineral titles were issued by MCO and 634 exploration Licenses were issued within the year under review.
It noted that the country’s strategic minerals accounted for 448 or 70.66 per cent of the exploration licenses issued.
The report further explained that of the 720 entities covered by the exercise, only payments by 69 companies were reconciled.
The 69 companies were entities that met the materiality threshold of N3 million and above, and paid a total of N1.7 billion which represented 86.93 per cent of the total royalty paid within the year.
In 2017, the report noted that 59 companies that met the materiality threshold paid a total of N1.3 billion, and N1.4 billion was paid by 56 companies which met the threshold in 2016, While all payments made by companies were covered in the report, not all were reconciled.
On collections accruing to the solid mineral revenue account, the report said that the balance in the account as at December 2018 was N12.59 billion.
“The sum of N16.78 billion was the accumulated revenue from the solid minerals sector as at September 30, 2019. Out of this amount, the sum of N8.7 billion was distributed among the three tiers of government in October 2019, leaving a balance of N8.08 billion,’’ the report disclosed.
The report called on the government to develop strategies for monitoring and penalising extractive companies that fail to sign and or implement community development agreements.
It also advised that the newly introduced initiative on national gold purchase scheme be strengthened.
