Nigeria’s Value Added Tax (VAT) collections, the easiest tractable consumption tax in the country, increased to N2.42 trillion in the first quarter of this year, representing 17.06 per cent increase from the N2.07 trillion generated in the corresponding quarter of 2025.
The latest VAT report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), reflected that the increase in the VAT sustained economic activity across key sectors such as manufacturing, mining telecommunications, and other services sectors.
The statistics agency reported that VAT collections grew by 9.98% on a quarter-on-quarter basis from N2.20 trillion recorded in Q4 2025.
It clarified that of the total VAT generated during the quarter, local payments accounted for N1.11 trillion, foreign VAT payments contributed N830.47 billion, while import VAT totalled N477.55 billion.
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According to the Bureau, contributions from most of the sectors to the VAT accrual in the quarter under review significantly rose based on the varying levels of economic activity in the country.
Analysis of the sectroral contributions on a quarter-on-quarter basis indicated that the strongest growth of 74.36 percent was recorded in activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods-and-services-producing activities for own use.
This growth in VAT collections was followed by the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, which expanded by 20.91%, while the manufacturing sector posted a robust 12.82% increase in VAT contributions.
Conversely, some sectors, including education sector recorded the sharpest drop, with its VAT contributions falling by 31.96%, followed by public administration and defence, including compulsory social security, which declined by 31.38%, while activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies decreased by 29.89%.
In terms of overall contribution to VAT revenue on sectoral basis, the manufacturing sector maintained its position as the largest contributor, accounting for 29.75% of total collections in the first quarter, followed by the information and communication sector with 20.61%, underscoring the growing importance of digital and telecommunications services to the economy.
Mining and quarrying ranked third, contributing 12.32% of total VAT revenue. The sector with the lowest contribution to the VAT remained activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods-and-services-producing activities for own use accounted for just 0.01% of total VAT collections.
In addition, the Bureau reported that activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies contributed 0.02%, while water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities made up 0.06%.
