Nigeria’s Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue surged to N1.78 trillion in the third quarter of 2024, recording a 14.16 per cent increase from the N1.56 trillion collected in the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported.

The sectoral breakdown of the figures shows that local VAT payments contributed the most at N922.87 billion, followed by foreign VAT payments with N448.85 billion, while import VAT raked in N410.62 billion.

Human health and social work activities saw the most dramatic quarter-on-quarter growth, rising by 250.39 per cent. It was trailed by households as employers and undifferentiated services for their use, which recorded a 102.09 per cent increase in VAT contributions.

In contrast, some sectors saw steep declines. Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities plunged by 41.92 per cent, making it the worst quarter performer. Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies followed with a 36.14 per cent drop.

Manufacturing, Information and Communication, and Mining & Quarrying led the VAT contribution chart. Manufacturing accounted for 22.21 per cent of the total, while ICT followed closely with 20.89 per cent and Mining and Quarrying delivered 18.90 per cent.

At the lower end of the spectrum, the sectors with the smallest contributions included household services (0.01 per cent), extraterritorial organisations (0.01 per cent), and water-related services (0.03 per cent).

Year-on-year, VAT collections jumped by a substantial 88.00 per cent from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024, reflecting a sharp increase in economic activity and possibly improved tax compliance.

The NBS releases VAT data quarterly to provide insights into government revenue performance and the contributions of various sectors to national income.