Nigeria’s rich mineral industry generated the least value added tax in Q3 2019.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service was only able to collect N44.30m from the untapped industry.
In contrast, the well-explored hydro-carbon industry produced about N15bn in VAT from four different groupings.
The gas subset generated N1.02bn, oil marketing produced N2.20bn, oil producing yielded N11.34bn, while the government got N1.60bn from petrol chemicals and petrol refining.
Sectors such as textile and garment as well as pharmaceuticals, soaps and toiletries, performed better than the mining sector.
The apparel-making industry provided N253.83m in VAT, while pharmaceuticals, soaps and toiletries contributed N291.06m.
Overall, Q3 was a poor VAT collection period for the government than Q2 of 2019.
The country earned N275.12bn as VAT in Q3, less than the N311.94bn it made in the second quarter of the year.
The government was able to get N36.82bn or 11.81 per cent shorter than it did between April and June 2019.
The major source of VAT was professional services, which produced N32.09bn, closely followed by the grouping described as other manufacturing, which generated N30.27bn, while commercial and trading was the third highest VAT earner with N14.47bn.
The mining industry in Nigeria has continued to be a poor revenue earner generally, despite the existence of a Natural Resource Development Fund created in 2004 to boost earnings from the sector.
