Tinubu assures oil sector stability with naira for crude transactions

President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, commended the Implementation Committee on the Naira-based sales of crude oil and refined products and asked the members to resolve any teething problems.

In a review meeting at the State House, Abuja, the President said using the Naira was conceived to remove the exchange rate hurdle.

“Whatever solution we proffer in crude oil and refined products sales in Naira should not take us back to our experience in the last 40 years.

“There can be cost and revenue adjustment in the oil sector, but the issue is that the government will not have to go back to the old way of doing things,” the President stated.

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He said the various players in the oil sector, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (NNPCL) and the Dangote Refinery, should work to improve the economy and the livelihood of Nigerians.

The President urged stakeholders to look inward and consider supplying enough petrol and petroleum products for local consumption to stop the persistent reliance on importation.

He said this would enable the channeling of foreign exchange into the development of the real sector.

The President advised stakeholders to use Afreximbank as a settlement bank to resolve the Naira pricing for crude and refined products. Afreximbank is already on board as the financial adviser.

“The market must determine what we are doing. Once you allow the market to determine the profit and loss, independent marketers and the government side can meet on the worksheet.

“I want the issues resolved without future waste of time.

“We can have energy security, and the motivation for Alhaji Aliko Dangote will not be defeated. It will be more predictable on a medium and long-term basis,” the President said.

Mr. Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, said the administration’s groundbreaking steps to sell crude in Naira would not be reversed.

He said the government would not be involved in determining the rate of exchange for the oil sector.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, told the President that the refinery had more than 500 million litres of fuel in reserve after supplying 400 million to the economy.

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He said the refinery could collaborate with the other refineries managed by NNPCL to meet an estimated 32 million litres of local petrol needs.

Mr. Zach Adedeji, Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, who chairs the technical committee, said importing refined products should end once the capacity to produce enough to meet domestic needs was achieved.

“The vision of Mr President is to turn Nigeria into a hub for refined products to export to the world,” he said.

At the meeting included Prof. Benedict Oramah, the President and Chairman of the Board of Afreximbank, and Sen. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and National Planning and Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, among others.