The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has
said that about 16.3 million metric tons of solid minerals valued at
$30 million was exported from Nigeria in 2017.
NEITI disclosed this in its latest report on independent
reconciliation of company payments and government receipts audit in
the solid mineral released in Abuja on Sunday.
It said that Nigeria’s total export was about ?13.6 trillion with
solid minerals contributing N77.23 billion or 0.57 per cent of total
export in 2017″.
The report noted that a trend analysis showed that in 2015, solid
minerals export was N1.94 billion.
This, it said, witnessed a geometric leap to N11.16 billion in 2016
and an equally impressive figure of N77.2 billion in 2017.
“This is an indication that the solid minerals sector is steadily
contributing to the federation’s export earnings but requires greater
government attention.
“The major destination of Nigeria’s export during the year under
review is China.
“The country accounted for 68 per cent of the total export value
during the year,” it said.
According to the report, other destinations are Malaysia, Vietnam and India.
The report, however, observed that export data received from the
Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) include minerals that were not captured
in the production data provided by the MID as well as inconsistency in
FOB value of minerals.
The report also contains comprehensive information and data on how
many licenses were issued as well as gross revenues that accrued to
the federation account from both oil and non-oil sources for the year
2017.
It asserted that while Nigeria’s gross revenues stood at ?7.4
trillion, revenues specifically from the solid minerals sector
represented only about 0.05 per cent.
The report explained that the absence of an industry-specific fiscal
regime made it difficult to tie revenue flows from the solid minerals
industry to the federation account.
It noted that the development also affected efforts at quantifying the
contribution of the solid minerals sector to Nigeria’s GDP, which
presently stands at current basic price of ?113.7 trillion.
The report, however, highlighted that the sector’s contribution to GDP
was an abysmal 0.11 per cent which showed a decline of 0.01 per cent
and 0.02 per cent from the data of 0.12 per cent in 2015, and 0.13 per
cent in 2016.
It further explained that out of 1,072 entities covered by the
exercise, only transactions by 59 companies were reconciled.
“These 59 companies accounted for over 86 per cent of the total
royalty payments made by the sector in 2017.
Royalties paid by 59 companies in 2017 was N1.3 billion as against the
N1.4 billion paid by 56 companies in 2016 resulting in a decrease of
about 7.7 per cent in revenue.
This, it said, might be an indication of lower investment in mining
activities in 2017.
On payouts to the federating units from solid minerals revenue, it
stated that the last distribution of solid minerals accumulated
royalties occurred in July 2016, when the sum of ?9.92 billion was
distributed by FAAC.
“The accumulated balance in the account as at December 31, 2017, was
?8.54 billion.
`As of April 30, 2019, the accumulated balance in the account
increased by 66.4 per cent to ?14.21 billion,” it explained.
However, the report noted the significant reforms and development in
the sector which include increased funding from N1 billion in 2015 to
N7 billion in 2017;
“Approval of ?30 billion ($100 million) as intervention fund to
facilitate exploration projects towards the much-needed geosciences
data and other regulatory framework;
“N5 billion support fund launched by the Bank of Industry for
small-scale miners at 5 per cent interest rate; 150 million dollar
loan secured from the World Bank for the Mineral Sector Support for
Economic Diversification Project (MinDiver) which became operational
in 2017, among others,” it added.
Amedu Onekpe & Co, an indigenous accounting and auditing firm,
conducted the 2017 solid minerals audit for NEITI.
