238 mining companies owe Nigeria N1.06bn –NEITI

September 12, 2023

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The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has said that about 238 companies owe the Federal Government about N1.06 billion 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 N654.28million in 2020, according to the report.

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It added, “From the records made available by MCO, 233 companies holding 284 licences still have outstanding annual service fees of N654.28million 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 N193.59billion 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 N1.37billion respectively.