Nigeria's First-Quarter Revenue Misses Target on Low Oil Income

First-quarter revenue in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, missed government’s target by as much as 32 percent owing to a decline in oil income.

Income realized from oil, the west African country’s main revenue earner, dropped to 189.3 billion naira, or 53 billion naira less than the amount targeted, according to the statement, adding that oil revenue should improve in subsequent quarters “as oil output and prices recover.” Non-oil income is also expected to appreciate with increased efficiency in the collection of some “seasonal” taxes, the statement said, without elaborating.
Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer. Oil makes up 37 percent of gross domestic product in the country of more than 140 million people, 83 percent of fiscal revenue and 98 percent of exports, Remi Babalola, Minister of State for Finance, said on May 14.

Crude production in the oil-rich Niger Delta region has fallen by more than 20 percent since 2006 when militants began their attacks on oil facilities and the kidnapping of workers, threatening to cripple the entire oil industry.

Bloomberg