Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed that the total financial inflows to Nigeria from solid minerals extraction between 2013 and 2017 amounted to N240 billion.
NEITI in its recent 2017 audit report of activities in the country’s solid minerals sector, stated that the trend analysis of revenue flow from the sector showed that there has been a remarkable increase in revenue accruing to the federation from the solid minerals.
It explained that although revenue from sector in 2016 witnessed a decrease by 33 per cent when compared to the 2015 figures, it subsequently picked up in 2017.
According to NEITI, in 2013, the total financial flow from the sector was 32.298 billion; in 2014 – N49.602 billion; 2015 – N64.463 billion; 2016 – N43.222 billion and 2017 – N52.757 billion.
NEITI equally noted that limestone, granite aggregate and laterite accounted for 85.72 per cent of the total minerals production in the country in 2017, with limestone alone contributing about 55 per cent.
However, concerning the value of production, it explained that granite aggregate and limestone contributed 37.28 per cent and 35.57 per cent respectively, giving a combined total of 72.85 per cent of the total production value.
With regards to states’ production statuses, NEITI said that Ogun state produced the highest quantity of minerals both in terms of volume and value in 2017.
“The state accounts for over one-third of total production quantity and 23 per cent of the total minerals production value. Ogun and Kogi states account for over half the total production quantity with limestone being the major minerals produced in the states.
“In terms of production value, Ogun, FCT and Kogi states account for 23 per cent, 20 per cent and 18 pe cent respectively of the total production value contributing a combined total of about 61 per cent of the production value,” said NEITI in the audit report.
Turning to company production statuses, NEITI also stated that the company with the largest volume of mineral produced in 2017 was Dangote Cement Plc.
It explained that: “The company accounted for approximately 46 per cent of the total minerals production in quantity. Furthermore, three other companies – Lafarge Cement Plc, CGC Nigeria Limited and Julius Berger Plc accounted for over 30 per cent of the total minerals produced. The major mineral produced by these companies is limestone.
“Overall, four companies – Dangote Cement Plc, Lafarge Cement Plc, CGC Nigeria Limited and Julius Berger Plc. produced a combined total of over 27 million tons, representing 77.31 per cent of the total quantities produced.
“The production value of these companies accounted for over 60 per cent of the total value of produced minerals.
“Dangote Cement Plc accounted for about one-third of the total value, while CGC Nigeria Limited followed with 16.78 per cent. In absolute terms, these four companies produced a combined total of over N20 billion.”
NEITI added that three commodities – Zinc ores and concentrates, Lead ores and concentrates, and Silica Sands and Quartz accounted for the largest share of the total solid minerals export of the country in 2017 with their percentage contribution hitting 73.81 and a total combined volume of 10,902,403.41 metric tonnes.
Similarly, it said the major destination of Nigeria’s export during the year under review was China which accounted for 68 per cent of the total export value during the year.
