Cement, Cocoa & Cash: ₦393 Billion Hits FG’s Account
The Big Picture: Ten of Nigeria’s heavyweight listed companies quietly wired a whopping ₦392.7 billion in income taxes to Abuja during the first half of 2025, a 16 percent jump from the same period last year, The PUNCH reports. In a season of tight public finances, that fresh cash is the fiscal equivalent of a double shot of espresso.
The Details:
• Dangote Cement towered above the pack, remitting ₦209.6 billion, up 103 percent from H1 2024.
• Lafarge Africa followed with ₦67.1 billion, a head-turning 288 percent surge.
• Nestlé Nigeria paid ₦37.8 billion, down 50 percent thanks to “accounting adjustments.”
Seven other blue-chips, from BUA Cement to Julius Berger, filled out the list.
Why It Matters: Company coffers are clearly swelling, but so is their tax bite. Tax pros note that the haul equals roughly one-tenth of 2024’s entire non-oil company-income-tax take. Meanwhile, Ogun State’s tax collectors are singing Dangote’s praises,OGIRS hailed the cement giant as the state’s “benchmark for corporate responsibility,” according to The Guardian.
Around the Tax World
• Streaming Now Costlier: Foreign digital platforms, from video streamers to cloud providers, must register, charge, and remit 7.5 percent VAT under the new Nigeria Tax Act (The Guardian).
• Input-VAT Relief Ahead: The Presidential tax-reform team says firms will soon reclaim VAT on key inputs,cutting costs across food, housing, and health supply chains (BusinessDay).
• January 1, 2026 Reset: A sweeping law will consolidate four major taxes, exempt workers earning under ₦800,000, and lift the SME turnover threshold for CIT relief to ₦100 million (The PUNCH).
• Royal Fraud Fallout: Osun’s Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, was sentenced to 56 months in a U.S. prison over a $4.2 million COVID-loan and tax scam (BBC News Pidgin).
By the Numbers
Prime Number: 288 % , the year-on-year leap in Lafarge Africa’s tax payment, showing just how hot Nigeria’s cement market,and its tax bill,has become.
Looking Ahead
All eyes now turn to the Federal Inland Revenue Service’s Q3 numbers and the first guidance on enforcing the digital-VAT rules. Expect plenty of lobbying before the 2026 mega-law kicks in.
Prepared by MyTax - mytax.com.ng