Nigeria’s Solid Minerals, mining, and quarrying arena chipped in a hefty N1.39 trillion to the nation’s economic engine in 2024, a figure that’s turning heads in the latest Gross Domestic Product tally.
The National Bureau of Statistics spilled the beans in its freshly minted GDP report, laying out the sector’s haul for all to see.
That N1.39 trillion marks a 21 percent tumble from the N1.76 trillion it pumped in back in 2023, a dip that’s raising eyebrows despite the current crew in charge rolling out a slew of fixes and tweaks to juice up the industry.
Digging into the numbers, the report pegged the sector’s slice of the GDP pie at 6.33 percent in Q4 2024—a step up from the 4.47 percent it logged in the same stretch of 2023—yet the year-long scorecard still took a N370 billion hit compared to the previous lap, a twist that’s got analysts scratching their chins.
It read, “The Mining Quarrying sector contributed 6.33 per cent to the overall GDP in the fourth quarter of 2024, higher than the contributions recorded in 2023 fourth quarter at 4.47 per cent and lower than the previous quarter at 7.72 per cent.
“However, the contribution of the sector in 2024 was 6.87 per cent relative to 6.47 per cent in 2023. In real terms, the Mining and Quarrying sector grew by 2.23 per cent (year-on-year) in the fourth quarter of 2024. Compared to the same quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, it was lower by 5.81 percentage points and lower by 1.03 percentage points respectively.
“Quarter-on-quarter, the growth rate
Last year, the government, through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, enforced a series of policies to improve revenue from the sector.recorded was -3.35 per cent during the quarter. Overall, the sector grew by 4.85 per cent in 2024 relative to -2.84 per cent in 2023. In total, the sector contributed 5.64 per cent to aggregate GDP in 2024, compared to 5.56 per cent recorded in 2023.”
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In July, the Minister, Dr Dele Alake, announced a 50 per cent upward review of 268 mining items’ rates and charges in the sector to improve service delivery.
However, the GDP report indicates that the sector’s overall performance has been less than expected.
Peeling back the layers of the report, coal mining took a brutal nosedive, scraping together just N9.29 billion in 2024—a gut-punching N15.69 billion or 62.8 percent slide from the N24.95 billion it racked up in 2023, a clear sign investors have started looking the other way.
The quarrying and other minerals crew didn’t fare much better, watching their haul shrink from N1.69 trillion in 2023 to N1.28 trillion in 2024—a hefty N410 billion or 24.26 percent drop that’s got folks wondering what’s stalling the engine.
On the flip side, the metal ores game turned heads with a breakout year, ballooning from N44.22 billion in 2023 to a hefty N103.51 billion in 2024—that’s a N52.29 billion or 134.07 percent surge, a neon-lit signal of buzzing activity and cash flowing back into the fold.
Zooming in deeper, the quarrying and other minerals squad still flexed some muscle, posting a chart-topping N960.32 billion in Q4 2024, proving it’s still got some juice even in a rocky year.
