The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has announced that 2,119 companies operating under the aegis of Nigeria’s solid minerals industry are owing Nigeria’s Federal government over N2.76bn.

This was disclosed in its latest report on the mining sector for the year 2020. It also noted that Nigeria earned N624.45bn from the industry in 13 years.

In a statement issued by the agency in Abuja, it was stated that the companies’ liabilities resulted from failure on the part of the 2,119 companies to pay statutory annual service fees for various mineral titles.

The NEITI report, which was presented by the agency’s Executive Secretary, Orji Ogbonnaya-Orji, indicated that the total revenue contributions from the 8sector in 2020 rose to N128.27bn, an increase of over 54% from the N74.85bn recorded in 2019 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

While commenting, Ogbonnaya-Orji expressed that it is of interest to NEITI that every kobo counts to reduce government’s financial burden, and the agency’s report will continue to provide useful information and data on who owes what in the oil, gas, and mining sector.

The NEITI report further revealed that the sum of N8.89bn was shared among the federating units as solid minerals revenue in 2020.

Share this: