President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira rather than dollars.
This decision was disclosed by Zacch Adedeji, Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), following Monday’s FEC meeting.
Adedeji said the measure would assuage the strain on the country’s foreign spending and stabilise the pump price of petrol, diesel and other products in Nigeria.
Speaking further, Adedeji explained that this move aimed to facilitate the sale of refined products from these refineries to local marketers, enhancing the availability of locally refined oil products for domestic consumption.
Dangote Refinery at the moment requires 15 cargoes of crude, at a cost of $13.5 billion yearly. NNPC has committed to supply four.
But the FEC has approved that the 450,000 barrels meant for domestic consumption be offered in Naira to Nigerian refineries, using the Dangote refinery as pilot. The exchange rate will be fixed for the duration of this transaction.
