The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says the federal government’s revenue from mining  increased by 23 percent to N69 billion because of increased taxes and royalties in the industry.

In the highlights of 2015 solid minerals audit report released by the agency, it said production decreased in the same year.

“There was an increase in government revenues from the solid minerals sector from N55.814 billion in 2014 to N69.200 billion. This represents a 23.98 percent increase and is due mainly to the growth in the amount of taxes paid to FIRS and increase in royalty rates effective from the middle of the year.

“According to the data provided by the mines inspectorate department (MID) total production across the whole solid minerals sector in 2015 was 39.27 million tons lower than 47.1 million tons produced the previous year.

“There was a general decrease in production for all minerals except shale which conversely increased by 32%, to 1.076 million tons in 2015.”

The report said 481 companies paid royalties of N3 million and above in the same year while the sector contributed 0.12 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP).

Amongst the seven mineral producing states, Ogun contributed the highest revenue accounting for 32.81 percent of the total revenue.

NEITI advised that state mines offices should be equipped with knowledge and machines for adequate determination quantity and royalty calculation as they “over-relied on companies for production details without verification of the correctness and accuracy of the figures”.

It also urged the government to speed up the implementation of a sector-specific fiscal regime because multiple taxation is still a problem in the solid minerals sector.

“NIWA, LAWMA and any such agencies that indulge in such extortions be stopped and made to account for the amount illegally collected over time.”