Despite being blessed with a lot of solid minerals, the sector has only contributed N400 billion to the Nigerian economy in 12 years. A Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report yesterday showed that the industry posted N69.47 billion to the Federation Account in 2018, the highest during the period under review. A further breakdown revealed that taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) accounted for N65.69 billion, while fees and royalties to the Mines Inspectorate Department (MID) and Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) totalled N2.21 billion and N1.57 billion. “Nigeria has published eight cycles of solid minerals audit reports since it signed up to the EITI,” the document noted. The sector has contributed ₦416.32 billion in revenue to the federation in 12 years. Over half of this figure or N279.0 billion was earned between 2015 and 2018,” the document noted.