Posted by In 2021, the solid minerals industry brought in N193.59 billion for the Federal Government.
Between 2007 and 2021, the industry contributed N814.59 billion, with the largest year being 2021.
This was announced on Monday in Abuja by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), alongside the release of their 2021 Solid Minerals Industry Report, with the tagline “Impact built on blocking leakages to grow revenue.”
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Senator George Akume, the SGF (Secretary to the Government of the Federation), released the report.
Permanent Secretary of the General Services Office and SGF Dr. Maurice Mbaeri spoke on behalf of Akume.
This study is the twelfth in a series tracking industry payments and includes data from 1,214 companies.
It reconciled physical/financial transactions and performed supplementary verification on selected procedures, and it detailed the volumes of minerals mined, processed, and shipped out of the industry.
When compared to the projected income flows for 2020 of N116.82 billion, the increase in 2021 is N60.32 billion, or 51.89 percent, as presented by Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Executive Secretary, NEITI.
He noted that this uptick was consistent with the sector’s overall higher trend over the previous five years.
While this is an improvement over previous years, he noted, “considering the potentials of the sector to the Nigerian economy, this contribution is still abysmal.”
Orji claimed that all government solid minerals revenues and investments were analyzed, accounted for, reconciled, and presented in the 2021 Solid Minerals report.
According to him, the NEITI report also included payments and receipts from financial inflows, as well as the origin and use of monies allocated to the mining industry in Nigeria.
The Natural Resources Development Fund, the Solid Minerals Development Fund, the MinDiver Programme of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, and the Solid Minerals Development Funds under the Small and Medium Industries Equity Investment Scheme of the Bank of Industry are all included, as stated by Orji.
The Mining Inspectorate Department brought in N3.62 billion, the Mining Cadastre Office made N4.3 billion, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service earned N169.52 billion.
According to him, the N818.04 billion that the sector contributed to the federation account over the past 15 years is far below the sector’s full economic potential.
In regards to output, Orji stated that the study showed 76.28 million tons of solid minerals were either consumed or sold in 2021, resulting in a royalty payment of N3.57 billion.
Granite, limestone, laterite, clay, and sand account for the bulk of the year’s mineral output.
With a total output of 28.8 million tons, “Dangote Plc accounted for the largest production. Zeberced produced 3.3 million tons, while Bua and Lafarge produced 8.4 million tons, respectively.
Ogun state produced the most in the reviewed period, at 17.5 million tons; Kogi state produced the second-most, at 16.3 million tons; and Edo state produced the third-most, at 8 million tons.
The lowest output was seen in Borno State, which he estimated was 25,500 tons.
There were a total of 2,045 permits given, the head of NEITI said; 840 were for exploration (an increase of 62.79 percent), 771 were for small-scale mining, 255 were for a quarry, 139 were for reconnaissance, and 40 were for mining.
When asked about exports, he noted that in 2021, 142.54 million tons of minerals were shipped out, with a Free on Board value of US$ 101.29 million—an increase of 138.57 percent from the US$ 42.46 million recorded in the previous year’s report.
According to him, China is by far the largest buyer of Nigerian minerals, accounting for 97% of the total export volume and 88% of the total export value. Other countries that buy Nigerian minerals include Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.
When asked about the importance of solid minerals to the economy, he cited the report’s findings that the sector contributed 0.63 percent to GDP in 2019, representing an increase from 0.45 percent in 2020 and 0.26 percent in 2019.
He believes that the industry still has room to grow and develop before it can fully contribute to Nigeria’s economy.
Due to the failure of several corporations to pay their annual service fees for the various mineral titles, he determined that the government is owed a total of N1.06 billion from the time under examination.
Mineral title owners are required by law to pay a yearly service fee per cadastral unit.