BY KENNETH EZE
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, 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.
NEITI’s 2019 Audit Report signed by its Executive Secretary, Orji Ogbonaya Orji, released on recently, shows that the two companies under the Dangote Group, contributed about N778.28m, which represents 31 per cent of the N79.96 billion, the country earned from the solid minerals sector in 2019.
Specifically, while Dangote Cement Plc’s revenue contribution to the Federal Government stood at N635.52m, Dangote Industries Limited’s revenue was N142.76m, for the year under review. This translates to 25.40 per cent and 5.71 per cent of the total revenue received the government in 2019.
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.
The report stated that 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 revenues 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 per cent 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 which stated that mining and quarrying contributed 0.26 per cent to GDP, higher than 0.18 per cent contribution recorded in 2018.
“Nigeria’s GDP in 2019 was ₦144.210trillion with contributions from the solid minerals sector totaling ₦368.99billion, representing 0.26% of the total amount,” the report stated.
This shows a steady growth in the sector’s contribution to the economy in the past five years, from a contribution of 0.12 per cent in 2015 to 0.26 percent in 2019.
