The Federal Government’s drive to boost the naira through local sales of crude oil and refined petroleum products has recorded significant progress, according to the Technical Sub-Committee overseeing the policy’s implementation.
This was revealed during a high-level follow-up meeting of the Technical Sub-Committee on the Crude and Refined Product Sales in Naira initiative, held on Thursday in Abuja. The session was presided over by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun.
Our correspondent observed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited presented a crude delivery report detailing the volume of crude oil allocated for domestic refining under the policy.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority provided a domestic production report covering the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals.
The committee, attended by the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Zacch Adedeji, noted marked milestones in the rollout of the initiative since the last review. The update was shared in a post on the official X handle of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The meeting brought together key stakeholders, including the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Ms Olu Verheijen; senior officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited; local refining operators; and top representatives of regulatory agencies such as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Participants reaffirmed their collective commitment to driving the seamless implementation of the initiative, which forms a core part of President Bola Tinubu’s economic strategy to stabilise the local currency, deepen energy security, and drive in-country value addition in the oil and gas sector.
Speaking at the meeting, Edun applauded the spirit of inter-agency cooperation and pledged sustained government backing to ensure full execution of the initiative.
“Stakeholders reaffirmed their shared commitment to the effective and seamless execution of the policy, which remains a critical component of President Bola Tinubu’s broader strategy to strengthen the naira, enhance energy security, and promote local value addition within the sector.
“The positive feedback we are seeing is a direct result of the synergy among our key economic and energy institutions. We are optimistic about what lies ahead,” the post read.
Recall that there was an abrupt stop to the naira for crude agreement in March 2025. The Dangote refinery announced that it had temporarily halted the sale of petroleum products in naira as the naira-for-crude talks between it and NNPCL appeared to have failed.
The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery lamented that there was a mismatch between its sales proceeds and its crude oil purchase obligations, which it said are currently denominated in US dollars.
Three weeks after the suspension, the agreement was revived under the new NNPCL leadership after it agreed to resume crude sales in naira—a move that reportedly triggered a drop in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to N915 per litre.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollar and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council in July 2024 directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in the United States’ greenback.
The resumption of naira-denominated crude sales, experts believe, would reduce the strain on the US dollar and guarantee the price stability of petroleum products.
