President Bola Tinubu has instructed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to sell crude oil in Naira to the Dangote Refinery and other emerging refineries in Nigeria. This directive, announced by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, was shared on his official X handle on Monday.
Onanuga explained that this decision, approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), aims to stabilize fuel pump prices and the exchange rate between the Naira and the dollar. Dangote Refinery currently needs 15 cargoes of crude oil annually, costing $13.5 billion, with NNPC committing to supply four.
The FEC’s approval includes offering the 450,000 barrels allocated for domestic use to Nigerian refineries in Naira, starting with the Dangote refinery as a pilot project. The statement also mentioned that the exchange rate for these transactions will remain fixed. The trade between Dangote and NNPC Limited will be facilitated by Afreximbank and other Nigerian settlement banks, eliminating the need for international letters of credit and reducing the country’s dollar outflow.