The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has disclosed that about 238 companies owe the Federal Government about N1.06bn annual service fees.
This was disclosed in the NEITI Industry report for the Solid Minerals Industry for 2021, which was recently launched.
“From the IA review of MCO’s record of mineral title holders, it was observed that 238 companies holding 289 valid licences had outstanding payment of N1.06bn for annual service fees,” the report read.
The amount owed increased from N654.28m in 2020, according to the report.
It added, “From the records made available by MCO, 233 companies holding 284 licences still have outstanding annual service fees of N654.28m as at December 31, 2020. As at December 31, 2022, the outstanding liabilities of these companies was N1.06bn.”
It was also disclosed that out of a total of 1,214 companies operating in the sector, 914 paid royalties.
Also, out of the 914 that made royalty payments, 121 companies met the set materiality threshold and were responsible for 92 per cent of the total royalty payments.
It disclosed that the total receipts by federal, states, and local government agencies was N193.59bn in 2021.
Also, a total of 2,045 licences were issued during the year under review, and the total mineral production was 76,277,187 tons.
It was also noted that minerals with the largest production volume in the year under review are granite, limestone, laterite, clay and sand.
The report added, “Analysis by company shows that the major contributor to production are Dangote, BUA and Lafarge, with a combined production quantity and royalty payment of 41,438,553 tons and N1.37bn respectively.
“Notably, Dangote accounted for a significant share of total production (37.72 per cent) and royalty (25.55 per cent). These figures underscore the significant role played by these major companies in the mining sector.”
The report noted that Ogun recorded the highest production in the year under review, with a total of 17.5million tons, followed by Kogi with 16.3 million tons, and Edo with 8 million tons.
Speaking at the unveiling of the report in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, stated that 2021 figure showed an increase of N60.32bn or 51.89 per cent, when compared to the 2020 revenue flows of N116.82bn.
He, however, said the 2021 figure was still abysmal, considering the potential of the sector to the Nigerian economy.
Speaking at the unveiling, the Speaker, House of Representatives , Tajudeen Abass, represented by the Chairman House Committee on Urban Development, Awaji-inombek Abiante, described the report as being key to sanitising the extractive sector in order to boost job creation and revenue generation.
