Sector outperforms ICT and mining as total local VAT hits ₦2.197tn in first two quarters of 2025….
The manufacturing sector maintained its position as Nigeria’s leading contributor to Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue in the first half of 2025, generating ₦584.63 billion, representing 26.6 per cent of the total ₦2.197 trillion collected as local VAT within the period. The latest figures reaffirm the sector’s central role in the country’s economic performance despite persistent operational challenges.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that aggregate VAT collections for the first quarter of 2025 stood at ₦2.061 trillion. Of this amount, ₦1.102 trillion came from local VAT, ₦454.76 billion from foreign VAT, and ₦507.00 billion from import VAT.
In the second quarter of 2025, total VAT revenue came to ₦2.059 trillion, comprising ₦1.095 trillion in local VAT payments, ₦459.95 billion from foreign VAT and ₦508.55 billion from import VAT.
Taken together, local non-import VAT collections for the first half of the year amounted to ₦2.197 trillion, excluding both foreign VAT and VAT received on imports by the Nigeria Customs Service.
According to the NBS breakdown, the manufacturing sector ranked as the highest VAT contributor in Q1 2025, followed by the information and communication sector, and then mining and quarrying. The same pattern repeated in Q2 2025, with manufacturing maintaining the lead above information and communication and mining and quarrying.
A closer look at sectoral performance shows that in Q1’25, manufacturing accounted for 26.03% (₦286.95bn) of local VAT collections, information and communication contributed 17.51% (₦192.97bn), while mining and quarrying generated 17.02% (₦187.59bn).
In Q2’25, manufacturing strengthened its lead with 27.19% (₦297.68bn), followed by information and communication at 20.76% (₦227.22bn) and mining and quarrying at 15.04% (₦164.70bn).
Despite economic headwinds including high inflation, volatile foreign exchange rates, weak consumer purchasing power, inadequate infrastructure (especially in electricity supply), and rising inventories of unsold goods, the manufacturing sector has continued to anchor Nigeria’s economic growth. Persistent production costs and reduced competitiveness in the global market have not diminished the sector’s contribution to government revenue through VAT.
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