Nigeria earned N62.3trn from taxes in 3 years, says report

As Nigeria broke its decades-long fiscal dependence on oil revenue,  a report by Quartus Economics has revealed that between 2023-2025, an estimated N62.3 trillion was earned from taxes alone, with the  non-oil sector  contributing the highest proportion.

The report titled , “Nigeria Unshackled: Inside the Steady Rise of a Fiscal State, ” stated that   oil sector contributed just 27per cent of total taxes, while the non-oil sector accounted for over 73per cent or N45.48 trillion of the amount earned in the period under review.

According to the report, in 2025, tax collection grew by 30per cent, also driven  primarily by non-oil taxes, which accounted for nearly 84per cent of the growth in federally collected taxes.

“Within three years, Nigeria’s tax revenue nearly tripled from N10.18 trillion in 2022 to N28.29 trillion in 2025.

It noted that Nigeria’s recent progress with revenue growth and composition may still be modest in view of ongoing reforms in fiscal policy and revenue administration processes.

The report noted that over the last five years, and especially since 2023, Nigeria’s federation revenue grew rapidly and from previously underrated sources, stressing that the revenue growth showed stability and healthy diversification. 

“As of 2024 year-end, total revenue was nearly 4x 2019 revenue, and by 2025 year-end, tax collections was more than 5X 2019 levels,” the report revealed. 

The firm noted that from the early 2000s, Nigeria enjoyed a long stretch of economic abundance in decades, until a single global oil crash exposed how fragile the foundations truly were.

“A decade after the crisis, Nigeria’s GDP per capita was down nearly 75per cent from $4,332 in 2014 to barely $1,120 in 2024 as the number of Nigerians living in poverty had risen by 65 million as at 2023,” the report disclosed. 

According to the report, while Nigeria’s petrodollar-enabled prosperity and macro-stability lasted, underlying weakness in the economy persisted. In reality, before mid-2014 when oil prices began to fall, Nigeria’s oil revenue had been in decline for three straight years.  

“The fiscal and economic impact of the drop in Nigeria’s oil revenues was both telling and lasting. ▪ Between 2015 and 2019, the country earned 41 per cent less from oil than it had earned in the prior five years (2010-2014). 

“While non-oil revenues grew 39per cent during 2015 to 2019 (versus 2010 to 2014 total, the net effect was a 20per  cent drop in total federation revenues during the second half of a decade of mixed fortunes,” the report explained.  

The analysts at Quartus Economics noted that   decade after the oil price collapse, Nigeria’s revenue base has shifted from concentrated dependence on oil and dominance of non-tax revenue towards a resilient and sustainable mix.

“The contribution of oil to total federally collected revenues is down from 73.9per cent in 2010 to 25.8per cent in 2024. Non-oil revenue grew from 25per cent in 2010 to nearly 75per cent of revenues by 2024.

“From 44.5per cent in 2014, non-oil taxes now account for nearly three-quarters (75.9per cent) of federally collected taxes, as the contribution of oil taxes  dropped from nearly 55per cent in 2015 to less than a quarter in 2025,”   it explained.  

The report noted that “To contend with shortfalls in public revenue between 2015 and 2020, the Nigerian government at both federal  and sub-national levels took on more debt in moves that narrowed the country’s fiscal space. 

“Today, despite strong revenue growth, the public debt stock and debt service costs have become crucial aspects of Nigeria’s fiscal health, deserving of proactive, competent, and

disciplined stewardship. Relative to the pre-crisis era, Nigeria’s revenue has more than tripled.”

They expressed that revenues have grown, become resilient but without strategic and disciplined spending, Nigeria risks future fiscal instability, should high debt fail to accelerate growth.