President Bola Tinubu has commended the implementation committee on the naira-based sales of crude oil and refined products and asked the members to resolve any teething problems.
Tinubu said using the naira was conceived to remove the exchange rate hurdle.
The president said this during a meeting with the stakeholders at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, October 29, 2024.
He said the various players in the oil sector, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Dangote refinery, should work to improve the economy and the livelihood of Nigerians.
Tinubu urged the 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 channelling of foreign exchange into the development of the real sector.
The president also advised stakeholders to use Afreximbank as a settlement bank to resolve the naira pricing for crude and refined products, saying Afreximbank is already on board as the financial adviser.
Tinubu said: “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 Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the administration’s groundbreaking steps to sell crude in naira would not be reversed, adding that the government would not be involved in determining the rate of exchange for the oil sector.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said the refinery has more than 500 million litres of fuel in reserve after supplying 400 million to the economy.
Dangote said the refinery could collaborate with the other refineries managed by NNPCL to meet an estimated 32 million litres of local petrol needs.
At the meeting, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Chairman, Zach Adedeji, who chairs the technical committee, said importing refined products should end once “we have the capacity to produce enough to meet domestic needs”.
“The vision of Mr President is to turn Nigeria into a hub for refined products to export to the world,” Adedeji added.
Other stakeholders at the meeting included the President and Chairman of the Board of Afrexim Bank, Prof. Benedict Oramah; the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; and the Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Mele Kyari.
