ABUJA — Nigeria’s Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue jumped by 37.7% year-on-year to ₦4.12 trillion in the first half of 2025 (H1’25), up from ₦2.99 trillion in H1’24, according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Q2’25 VAT report shows that despite the strong annual growth, collections in the second quarter were marginally lower than in Q1’25, dipping 0.03% from ₦2.06 trillion to ₦2.059 trillion.
Where the VAT came from
For Q2’25 alone:
- Local VAT: ₦1.09 trillion
- Foreign VAT (non-import): ₦459.95 billion
- Import VAT: ₦508.55 billion
Sectorally, some industries recorded explosive quarter-on-quarter growth:
- Real estate activities: +155.21% (strongest growth)
- Agriculture, forestry & fishing: +23.64%
- Information & communication: +17.75%
On the flip side, a few sectors saw sharp declines:
- Human health & social work: –68.34% (weakest performance)
- Electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply: –45.20%
- Water supply, sewerage, waste management & remediation: –29.36%
Biggest contributors
In terms of contribution to total VAT collections, three sectors dominated Q2’25:
- Manufacturing: 27.19%
- Information & communication: 20.76%
- Mining & quarrying: 15.04%
At the bottom of the table were:
- Activities of households as employers: 0.005%
- Extraterritorial organisations and bodies: 0.02%
- Water supply, sewerage & waste management: 0.03%
Strong annual momentum
On a year-on-year basis, Q2’25 VAT revenue rose 32.15% compared with the ₦1.56 trillion collected in Q2’24, underlining VAT’s growing importance as a non-oil revenue source for the federal government.
Analysts are likely to see the numbers as a mixed signal: robust annual growth driven by inflation, higher nominal activity and improved compliance, but with a slight quarterly softening that may reflect pressure on real sector output and consumer spending.
