Company Income Tax payments by manufacturers fell by 68.25 per cent year-on-year to N74.48bn in the first quarter of 2026, raising fresh concerns over the productive sector’s capacity to withstand Nigeria’s new tax regime, weak consumer demand and elevated operating costs.
An analysis of the Company Income Tax report released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that manufacturing CIT dropped by N160.11bn from N234.59bn in Q1 2025 to N74.48bn in Q1 2026.
The decline was also sharp on a quarter-on-quarter basis, as tax payments by manufacturers fell by 47.49 per cent from N141.84bn in Q4 2025, representing a drop of N67.36bn within three months.
The NBS said the data was provided by the Nigeria Revenue Service and reported by the bureau. It stated, “Company Income Tax in Q1 2026 stood at N1.37tn, indicating a decrease of 8.08 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from N1.49tn in Q4 2025.”
The report also showed that total CIT collections fell by 31.05 per cent year-on-year, suggesting that the decline in manufacturing was part of a broader fall in company tax receipts, although the sector’s drop was more severe than the national average.
