FG: Naira-For-Crude policy designed to support local-Thage refining

By Victor Osula, Abuja

The Federal Government said that the Naira-For-Crude initiative with local refineries is not a temporary measure but a “key political directive designed to support sustainable local refining”.

Introduced on October 1, 2024, the agreement allowed the local refineries to purchase crude oil in Naira instead of dollars. The initiative was designed to support national refining capacity, reduce dependence on imported oil products and stabilize the local currency by loosening the pressure on foreign currency reserves.

The refinery of Dangote had, on March 19, announced the temporary suspension of the sales of oil products to Naira after the Nigerian NNPC NGROLEUM Company (nnpc) said that the agreement with the local refinery, initially structured for six months, expired in March 2025.

Speaking Tuesday in a meeting with representatives of the refinery of Dangote, the Minister of Finance and the Coordination of the Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, said that the Naira-For-Crude agreement is a political directive of the administration of President Bola Bola Tinubu to support sustainable local refining and has remained in force.

In a declaration on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance declared that the technical subcommittee on the sale of raw and refined products in the Naira initiative met on Tuesday to review the progress and face the issues relating to the implementation in progress.

The meeting reiterated the government’s continuous commitment for the full implementation of the Naira-For-Crude initiative, as directed by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

They underlined that “sales of raw and refined products in the Naira initiative are not a temporary intervention or tied to time, but a key political directive designed to support sustainable local refining, support energy safety and reduce dependence on changes in the internal oil market.

“As with any important political change, the Committee recognizes that from time to time the implementation challenges may derive. However, these issues are actively addressed through coordinated efforts between all the parties.

“The initiative remains in force and will continue as long as it is aligned with the public interest and supports national economic objectives”.

The meeting was attended by Edun, the president of the implementation committee; The president of the technical subcommittee and president of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji; The Chief Financial Officer of NNPCL, Dapo Segun; the coordinator of the refineries nnpc; NNPC trading management; Representatives of the oil refinery and petrochemical oil.

Others during the meeting include high officials of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatorry Commission (NUPRC), the Nigerian Midstream and the authority for the regulation of oil in the valley (Nmdpra), the central bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian authority (NPA), representative of Afreximbank, as well as the Secretary of the Commission, the Commission of the Commission of Hauwam.

Post views:
135