President Bola Tinubu has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery in Naira, aiming to stabilize both the pump price of refined fuel and the dollar-Naira exchange rate. This move was announced by Bayo Onanuga, a presidential media aide, via his official X account on Monday.
Onanuga explained that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) adopted this proposal to support domestic refineries and reduce dependence on international letters of credit. The Dangote Refinery, which requires 15 cargoes of crude annually, valued at $13.5 billion, will initially receive four cargoes from NNPCL in Naira, with the exchange rate fixed for the transaction.
The arrangement involves Afreximbank and other Nigerian settlement banks facilitating the trade. This intervention is expected to save Nigeria billions of dollars currently spent on importing refined fuel.
