The Nigerian government raked in the sum of N1.78 trillion from Value Added Tax (VAT) in the third quarter of 2024.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its latest VAT report.

The VAT data comes amid ongoing debates over the new sharing formula for the revenue as proposed in the new tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly.

The Q3 VAT figure represents a 14.16% quarter-on-quarter increase compared to the N1.56 trillion collected in Q2 2024 and an 88% year-on-year growth from Q3 2023.

The N1.78 trillion VAT revenue was driven by contributions from three key streams: Local VAT Payments: N922.87 billion. Foreign VAT Payments N448.85 billion and Import VAT, N410.62 billion.

Human health and social work activities led the pack with the highest growth rate of 250.39per cent quarter-on-quarter, followed by activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods and services-producing activities for household use, which grew by 102.09per cent.

Conversely, some sectors recorded significant declines. These include water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities, which fell by 41.92percent, the sharpest decline among sectors.

Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies also dropped by 36.14percent.

In terms of contributions to the overall VAT pool, the top-performing sectors in Q3 2024 were: Manufacturing 22.21 per cent, Information and Communication 20.89per cent, mining and quarrying activities 18.90 per cent

The Q3 2024 VAT collections showed remarkable progress on a year-on-year basis, recording an 88% increase from Q3 2023.

This shows the government's efforts to enhance revenue generation through tax administration and compliance.