NRS Earns $3.70 Trillion in One Month in Oil Taxes – THIS UPDATE

Nigeria’s federally collected revenue received a major boost in August 2026 as the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) generated N3.70 trillion in taxes and related revenues, largely driven by hefty petroleum taxes, royalties and value-added tax (VAT) related revenues.

The performance came despite a sharp decline in revenue collected by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which missed its monthly target of 144.13 billion naira and also recorded a decline from July collection.

Details on the revenue performance are contained in a report presented during the technical session of the September meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja.

The document, prepared by the FAAC Technical Subcommittee at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), provides the breakdown of revenue collected by major government bodies for the month of August.

According to the report, the NRS collected $758.82 billion from petroleum profits tax, hydrocarbon tax and corporate income tax on upstream petroleum activities.

The amount exceeded the provisional monthly budget of 608.75 billion naira by 150.07 billion, highlighting the strong contribution of the oil sector to government revenue during the month.

However, collections from corporate income tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty amounted to 1.04 trillion naira, slightly below the monthly target of 1.07 trillion naira.

VAT collections also remained strong at N834.84 billion, comprising N640.87 billion from non-import VAT and N193.98 billion from import VAT.

The figure exceeded the monthly VAT budget of N829.92 billion by N4.93 billion.

The strongest performance was recorded in oil royalties, which generated 993.02 billion naira against a monthly budget of 675 billion naira. Raising was $318.02 billion above target.

“The sum of N993,016,602,697.65 was collected as oil royalties which was more than the monthly budget of N675,000,000,000.00 by N318,016,602,697.65,” the OAGF report said.

Revenue from the Gas Flared Penalty, Gas Flared Tariff, rentals and various petroleum sources also substantially exceeded forecasts.

The government collected N66.76 billion from the category against a monthly target of N31.10 billion, representing a positive variance of N35.66 billion.

The report states: “Furthermore, the sum of N66,756,478,620.81 was collected as Gas Flared fine, Gas Flare fee, rental and miscellaneous oil revenue against the monthly budget of N31,099,583,333.33 resulting in positive variance of N35,656,895,287.81.”

Revenue from minerals was significantly lower. The NRS collected NRS8.04 billion in mining royalties and NRS362.19 million from other mining revenues during the month.

The combined performance exceeded the monthly budget of N8 billion by N398.55 million.

Separately, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development reported taxes of $70.84 million for August.

“The representative of MSMD reported that a total sum of N70,841,156.54 was collected for the month of August 2026 as commissions,” the OAGF document states.

However, the Accountant General of Ondo State questioned the absence of a record showing monthly collections since the beginning of 2026 and sought clarification on the cumulative revenue of the ministry since January.

The ministry representative subsequently referred members of the committee to the consolidated report of the Central Bank of Nigeria and documentation of the Accounts Department of the Federation.

While NRS collections were supported by oil-related revenues, Customs posted a significantly weaker performance.

The NCS generated N317.75 billion in August, comprising N277.89 billion in import duties, N23.49 billion in excise duty and N16.38 billion from common external tariff levies.

The amount was 144.13 billion naira short of the 2026 provisional monthly budget of 461.88 billion naira. It was also N20.51 billion lower than the N338.26 billion raised in July.

“The report showed that the actual collection for the month was lower than the 2026 provisional monthly budget of N461,881,759,506.77 by N144,129,308,442.49 and lower than the previous month’s collection of N338,259,303,178.43 by N20,506,852,113.76,” the OAGF said.

The Customs representative informed the committee that the Central Bank of Nigeria transferred the entire N317.75 billion collected during the month into the Federation account.

The meeting also reviewed outstanding NCS fees collected in June but not reported at the July FAAC meeting.

The director of the Federation’s accounts department has requested an additional four weeks to reconcile the outstanding figures, with the scope of the exercise expanded beyond June to cover customs duties from January to August 2026.

The president of the Forum of Accountants General, on behalf of the members and with the approval of the president of the assembly, accepts the request.