The Federal Government, through the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), has disclosed that Dangote Cement Plc and Dangote Industries Limited were the highest contributors of revenue for the Federal Government from the country’s Solid Minerals sector in 2019.

According to NEITI’s 2019 Audit Report signed by its Executive Secretary, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, released on Tuesday, the two companies under the Dangote Group, contributed about N778.28 million representing 31 per cent of the N79.96 billion, which the country earned from the solid minerals sector in 2019.

Specifically, while Dangote Cement Plc’s revenue contribution to the Federal Government stands at N635.52 million, Dangote Industries Limited’s revenue stands at N142.76 million, representing 25.40 per cent and 5.71 per cent of the total revenue received by the government under the period under revenue.

The report named the top five companies that contributed significantly to revenue from the solid mineral sector to include Dangote Cement Plc, Dangote Industries Limited, Lafarge Plc, Julius Berger, and Reynolds Construction.

According to the report, out of 702 companies that paid royalties to the government in 2019, only 74 companies met the materiality threshold of ₦3 million.

“These 74 companies accounted for 87.63% of total royalties of N2.50 billion paid in 2019, with the top 5 companies (Dangote Cement PLC; Lafarge PLC; Dangote Industries; Julius Berger; and Reynolds Construction) paying more than 50% of total royalties” the report stated.

An analysis of revenue flows from the sector also showed that the sum of N79.96 billion recorded in 2019 was the highest in the past five years. This was followed by N69.47bn and N69.2billion recorded in 2018 and 2015 respectively. Besides, N52.76bn was recorded in 2017 while the sector accounted for N41.98bn in 2016.

On minerals exported, the report showed that the solid minerals sector accounted for N124.23 billion of the total government exports of N24.275 trillion for 2019, representing 0.51% of total export for the year.

On contribution of the sector to the economy, NEITI’s report cited data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which stated that mining and quarrying contributed 0.26% to GDP, higher than 0.18% contribution recorded in 2018.

“Nigeria’s GDP in 2019 was ₦144.210trillion with contributions from the solid minerals sector totalling ₦368.99billion, representing 0.26% of the total amount”. This shows steady growth in the sector’s contribution to the economy in the past five years, from a contribution of 0.12% in 2015 to 0.26% in 2019.

A sectorial review of revenue distribution of taxes and royalties by the 74 companies shows that manufacturing and construction companies contributed 68.60% and 29.67% respectively in royalty and taxes while quarry, mining companies and buying centres contributed only 1.73%.

On environmental impact and social expenditure, the report disclosed that ten (10) companies reported environmental expenditures to the tune of N17.13million. The expenditure covers environmental fees, air quality and waste permits, and registration fees for environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Furthermore, the report disclosed that Mines Environmental Compliance Department carried out reclamation of seven (7) abandoned mines costing N534.81million. It also noted that a total of 32 mining sites have so far been reclaimed from 2007 to 2019 costing N2.39billion.

On social expenditure, the report revealed that the sum of N2.598 billion was spent on 557 projects by 44 extractive companies.

Apart from the Presidential initiatives on gold, salt and fertilizers, the NEITI report also identified ongoing projects in the sector.

They include Gold Mining Development; Mapping of ASM & Buying Centres; and Procurement of Airborne Geophysical Survey; and Integrated Automated and Interactive Solid Mineral Portal (IAISMP). Others are Development of geoscience data bank for mineral exploration; Development of jewellery and gemstone industry; Automation of royalty payment and documentation across the country.

The Report made salient recommendations aimed at providing interventions, strengthening the regulatory framework, enhancing tax payment systems and ensuring synergy, partnerships and collaborations among agencies managing the sector.

To address the issue of non-payment of taxes and multiple tax identification numbers (TIN), the NEITI report recommended that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) should carry out comprehensive tax audits to recover all unpaid taxes by companies and also work in collaboration with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) to reconcile the multiple tax identification numbers by some companies.

The Report also recommended that government through MMSD should promote the development and benefaction of strategic minerals through investments in strategic and metallic minerals to increase revenue to the government.

Furthermore, the ministry should also consider having its representatives at the export terminals and borders to validate export clearance permits by exporters and confirm if the applicable royalties have been paid.