By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed that Nigeria saw a 65.7 per cent or N76.77 billion increase in earnings from the solid minerals sector in 2021 to N193.59 billion from the N116.82 billion achieved in 2020.
This upward trajectory has been on for the past five years, according to a report from the agency.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, however, lamented that this is still abysmal considering the potential of the sector to the Nigerian economy.
He said this while presenting the solid minerals sector report in Abuja, noting that the organisation “reviewed, ascertained, reconciled and reported all revenues and investment flows to and from the government in the solid minerals sector.”
According to Mr Orji: “The report, which is NEITI’s 12th, covered actual payments by 1,214 companies operating in the sector and receipts by three government agencies, the quantities of minerals that they produced, utilised and exported from the sector, reconciled the physical/financial transactions and undertook special verification on some processes.”
The NEITI report also covered balances payable/receivable from financial inflows and tracked the funds and utilisation meant for the development of solid minerals in Nigeria.
The funds covered in the report include the Natural Resources Development Fund (NRDF), Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD), MinDiver Programme, and Solid Minerals Development Funds under the Small and Medium Industries Equity Investment Scheme (SMIEIS), operated through the Bank of Industry (BOI).
The report covered the emerging issues of beneficial ownership and contract transparency and finally made observations and copious recommendations that would inform policy decisions and implementation.
Mr Orji further gave a breakdown of the revenues, which shows that the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, collected a bulk of the revenue of N169.52 billion. The Mining Cadastre Office generated N4.3 billion, while the Mining Inspectorate Department generated a total of N3.62 billion.
The report also observed a consistent year-on-year increase in revenue to the federation account from the solid minerals sector in the past fifteen years (2007-2021).
It puts the total revenue that accrued to the government during these years to N818.04 billion and points out that this is significantly low compared to the economic potential of the sector. It noted that of the N6.62 trillion total government revenue in 2021, the solid minerals sector barely contributed 2.6 per cent.
On production, the solid minerals report disclosed that the total volume of solid minerals used or sold in 2021 was 76.28 million tons, with a royalty payment of N3.57 billion.
The minerals with the largest production volume in the year under review are granite, limestone, laterite, clay, and sand.
Dangote Plc accounted for the highest production in the year under review, with a total production of 28.8 million tons. Bua and Lafarge accounted for 8.4 and 4.3 million tons, respectively, while Zeberced accounted for 3.3 million tons.
The NEITI report also pointed out that Ogun State recorded the highest production in the year under review, with a total of 17.5 million tons, followed by Kogi State with 16.3 million tons and Edo with 8 million tons. The lowest production volume was recorded by Borno State with 25,500 tons.
NEITI also noted that there were increases in the number of licenses issued within the period under review. A total of 2,045 licenses were issued, with exploration licenses accounting for 840 (an increase of 62.79 per cent); Small Scale Mining Lease, SSML, 771; Quarry Lease 255; Reconnaissance Permit 139; and Mining leases 40.
Dipo Olowookere 
Modupe Gbadeyanka