Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) disclosed that the sum of N79.9 billion was earned by Nigeria from the solid minerals sector in 2019.
This was disclosed by Dr Dieter Bassi, Technical Director at NEITI, in a report on Tuesday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The report stated that revenue from solid minerals grew 13.02% to N79.9 billion compared to N69.5 billion in 2018.
What the report said
- There was an increase to 74 entities compared to 69 captured in 2018, while production volume rose to 59.83 million tons in 2019 compared to the 40.7 million tons recorded in 2018.
- Export volume production in 2019 was 7.09 million tons, a decrease of 124.75 million tons from the 2018 figure.
- Limestone, Granite and Laterite were the most produced minerals in 2019 accounting for 55.03 million tons.
- Ogun, Kogi and Cross River accounted for 37.92 million tons with Ogun recording 18.65 million tons; Kogi, 12.77 million tons; and Cross River, 6.50 million tons, respectively.
The report also added that Dangote Cement Plc contributed 25.40% to all royalties received for the period with payment of N635.52 million.
On export
- 61 companies exported solid minerals in 2019 with China being the principal destination and accounting for 95% of the solid minerals exported.
- The solid minerals sector contributed a total of N368.99 billion, representing 0.26% to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was N144.210 trillion in 2019, with a total contribution of N917.02 billion to the economy in 5 years.
NEITI added that challenges faced in the sector include underpayment of royalties and non-payment of taxes by some companies, lack of effective monitoring and supervision and slow pace in the development of metallic minerals. These factors were causing potential losses in revenue to the government.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported this week that NEITI revealed that Nigeria lost 42.25 million barrels of crude oil valued at $2.77 billion to oil theft in 2019.
They also added that Nigeria earned $34.22 billion from the oil and gas sector in 2019, a 4.88% increase over the $32.63 billion realized in 2018.
