NEITI Report Reveals Severe Gender Bias In Solid Minerals Sector
The 2018 Solid Minerals audit report recently released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed a severe gender imbalance in job opportunities in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
The report which reconciled companies’ payments and government’s receipts from the sector in 2018 as well as tracked production volumes and trends of revenues from the sector to the federation account from 2007 to 2018, showed that women only occupied 3.47percent of jobs in the sector, while men occupy 96.53percent.
The report disclosed that the sector’s contribution to employment in 2018 was 9,873, with more Nigerian nationals employed. Only six physically challenged persons were recorded as being employed in the sector in 2018.
On the contribution of the solid minerals industry to Nigeria’ GDP, the report aligned with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figure of N224.79 billion representing 0.18% of the country’s GDP. A breakdown of this figure shows that quarrying and other minerals accounted for 0.16%, while coal and metal ores accounted for 0.01% each.
The solid minerals sector contributed N69.47 billion to federation revenue in 2018, the highest so far since NEITI commenced reconciliation of payments in the sector. The figure shows an increase of N16.71 billion representing 31.67% over the 2017 revenue of N52.76 billion.
Breakdown of the receipts showed that taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) accounted for N65.69 billion (94.56% of the total) while fees and royalties paid to the Mines Inspectorate Department (MID) and Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) accounted for N2.21 billion (3.18%) and N1.57 billion (2.26%) respectively.
Nigeria has published eight cycles of solid minerals audit reports since it signed up to the EITI. The sector has contributed ₦416.32billion in revenues to the federation in 12 years. Over half of this figure or (N279.0 billion) was earned between 2015 and 2018”, indicating a remarkable increase in revenues accruing to the Federation from the solid minerals sector in recent years.
The main sources of revenue flows from solid minerals, according to the report, remains various categories of taxes, royalty, permits, annual services and sub-national payments. In the year under review, sub-national payments and other taxes accounted for ₦1.54billion representing about 2.23% of total government revenue from the sector.
On production, the NEITI 2018 Solid Minerals Report disclosed that 46.68 million metric tons of minerals valued at N47.87 billion were produced in Nigeria during the period. The production data was based on minerals either used or sold during the year, with limestone and granite accounting for about 80% of the total minerals produced. Limestone alone contributed 54.85% while granite accounted for 23.88% of minerals mined.
Coal quarry
On state-by-state production, the report disclosed that in 2018, most of the mining activities in the country took place in Ogun State. The state accounted for 12.66 million metric tons (27.13%) of the total volume produced during the period under review, followed by Kogi and Benue states, each accounting for 22.88% and 10.10% respectively. Enugu and Borno states were at the bottom of the table, accounting for 0.02% and 0.001% respectively.
The report also revealed that Dangote Cement Plc and Larfarge Africa Plc dominated activities in minerals produced by companies. The two companies contributed 57.22% of the total minerals produced in 2018, with Dangote cement accounting for 46.38%, while Larfarge Africa was responsible for 10.84%.
One other feature of the solid minerals report for 2018 is the focus on the performance of the strategic minerals identified by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development. The minerals are coal, lead zinc, limestone, barites, bitumen, gold and iron ore. According to the report, “The seven strategic minerals mined in 2018 contributed 49.7% to royalty payments declared in the year,” the report said.
The report further revealed that forty-seven companies exported ores, concentrates and metal ingots worth $144.38 million in 2018. Ores and concentrates accounted for $34.02 million with China identified as the principal destination of Nigeria’s mineral exports. China received 52,500.51 metric tons of the ores and concentrates valued at $27,926,897.05 which is 79.52% of the total minerals exported in 2018. The other top destinations were Germany, South Korea, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Benin Republic.
According to the report, 1,516 mineral titles were issued by MCO in 2018. 634 exploration Licenses were issued within the year under review. The country’s strategic minerals accounted for 448 or 70.66% of the exploration licenses issued.
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