Nigeria’s Company Income Tax (CIT) revenue fell to N984.6 billion in the first quarter of 2024, marking a 12.87 percent decline from N1.13 trillion in the previous quarter. The decrease follows the departure of at least seven multinational corporations over the past year, a trend attributed to an unfavorable business environment and a scarcity of foreign exchange since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took office. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), local CIT payments amounted to N386.49 billion, while foreign CIT payments contributed N598.13 billion in Q1 2024.
The NBS report revealed varying growth rates across different sectors. Household activities as employers saw the highest quarter-on-quarter growth rate at -330.42 percent, whereas manufacturing experienced the steepest decline at -70.24 percent. Sectoral contributions to CIT were led by mining and quarrying (20.94 percent), financial and insurance activities (18.73 percent), and information and communication (12.56 percent). Despite the overall quarterly drop, CIT collections in Q1 2024 showed a year-on-year increase of 109.93 percent from Q1 2023, indicating some resilience in certain areas.
In addition to CIT, the government earned N1.43 trillion from Value Added Tax (VAT) in Q1 2024, representing a 19.21 percent increase from N1.20 trillion in Q4 2023. Local VAT payments were N663.1 billion, foreign VAT payments were N435.7 billion, and import VAT contributed N332 billion.
The highest VAT growth rates were seen in accommodation and food service activities (59.15 percent) and administrative and support services (47.79 percent). The manufacturing sector led in VAT contributions with 26.72 percent, followed by information and communication (17.42 percent) and mining and quarrying (15.42 percent).
Source: Daily Trust