Nigeria government begins Naira-for-crude sales with dangote refinery

Share this:

Wale Edun, Minister of Finance, reveals that the government has officially started selling crude oil to Dangote Refinery using Naira instead of Dollars. This deal started on October 1, 2024.

This was disclosed via an official statement on the X account of the Ministry of Finance on Saturday, this initiative is completely inline with a directive from the Federal Executive Council, FEC.

“The Hon. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy announced that, in line with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) directive, the sale of crude oil and refined petroleum products in Naira has officially commenced as of October 1st, 2024.

“Following a meeting of the Implementation Committee, chaired by the Hon. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy on October 3rd, 2024, to conduct a post-commencement review of the Crude Oil and Refined Products Sales in Naira initiative, the commencement of this strategic initiative was affirmed by key stakeholders.

“The meeting included the Hon. Minister of State, Petroleum (Oil), the Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the representative of the Chairman of Dangote Group, the Vice President of Dangote Group, and the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), led by the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Executive Vice President (Downstream)”.

What You Should Know

This will help to stabilize fuel prices and a conduction of these transactions in Naira (rather than U.S. dollars) reduces the demand for foreign currency. It will also protect Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves and stabilize the Naira-Dollar exchange rate, reducing inflation where the cost of imported goods would be less affected by currency fluctuations.