At Last, Tinubu Orders NNPCL To Sell Crude Oil To Dangote In Naira

Dangote Refinery Had Planned To Import Crude Oil

In what looks like succumbing to citizens’ demand, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States dollars.

It was part of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting decision on Monday, which observers believed might not be unconnected with the planned nationwide protest

Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) boss Zack Adedeji disclosed this after the meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja on Monday.

Adedeji said the measure would reduce the strain on the country’s foreign spending and stabilise the pump price of petrol, diesel and other products in Nigeria.

Adedeji said FEC ordered that the state-owned NNPCL immediately begin the full implementation of the directive to boost local production of refined petroleum products in Nigeria.

The revenue boss also said the Tinubu administration ordered that the sale of refined products from Dangote Refinery to oil marketers and distributors be denominated in naira and not in US dollars.

Reports had it that Dangote, on Saturday, revealed that the NNPC) supplies insufficient crude for its production demand, further revealing his plan to source from Brazil and America.

“First of all, the refinery is here in Nigeria. We have the crude oil here in Nigeria. We thought we would get the crude oil here and refine it here in our refinery for the benefit of the country and the citizens.

“Ironically, the country takes the crude oil overseas for refining while we have a refinery, one of the biggest in the world.

“So, we will not stay idle. We have to look for other sources to meet our production capacity. If we get the crude oil supply here in the country, we have no reason to go overseas.

“Even now, we are planning to supply crude oil from countries like Brazil and the USA,” the Group Chief Commercial Officer of Dangote Industries Limited, Rabiu A. Umar told newsmen in Kano on Friday.