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The Federal Government has approved the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) as the intermediary bank to serve as a clearing house for all the transactions for the sale of crude and refined petroleum products in naira policy, recently initiated by President Bola Tinubu.
Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, who revealed this while briefing State House journalists, after leading the committee to meet with President Bola Tinubu, stated that Afreximbank, which was represented at the meeting, “will serve as the financial institution that will assist and act as an intermediary to ensure that the parties, the seller of the crude, the buyer of the crude, can complete their transactions, no matter the fact that the foreign exchange market is volatile and moves all the time.”
Edun stated that the meeting was called to review the implementation of the initiative, which was earlier endorsed by the Federal Executive Council, to sell crude to local refiners, who will in turn, sell in naira, to the Nigerian public.
He noted that the policy was made possible by the courageous and bold investment of the Dangote group, in a local refinery of 650,000 barrels per day refining capacity.
He disclosed that the implementation committee and the sub-committees have worked assiduously with all stakeholders, “the regulators, including NNDPRA, NUPRC, NIMASA, NNPC, NPA the navy and a host of other stakeholders to ensure that this important initiative is implemented, and it is being implemented as we speak.… And what it has made possible is that now, we have market pricing of petroleum products.”
He disclosed that the policy has also made market pricing of foreign exchange possible and set the economy on the path to industrialisation.
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Edun noted that with the involvement of the private sector in the refining of crude oil, the country now has “raw materials, not just for agriculture, but for industry, chemicals, for paints and building materials for textiles, and of course, this is Mr. President’s strategy and his policy of making conditions right for the private sector to invest, create jobs and grow the economy.”
“Likewise, the market pricing of petroleum products has also paved the way for the NNPC to restore its balance sheet, restore its financial fortunes, and of course, give the federation – federal, state and local governments more funding to allow them meet their obligations, including salary payments to workers, social services to the population generally, and key infrastructure development.
According to him, “the economy has been set well and truly on a path, although it’s early steps, and there is much to be done, we can now see a clear path to industrial development for modernisation of the Nigerian economy, because the key prices are right, and it is encouraging private sector investment.”
He assured that the all-important effort would be sustained, adding that “whatever the teething problems, whatever the initial obstacles to the successful implementation of the local sale in naira of crude petroleum to domestic refiners and the correlating sale of petroleum products in naira is fully resolved.”
Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote group, in his remarks, said the president has directed that the refinery be patronised by retail outlets, including the NNPCL and other marketers.
“They will be buying just like any other, that is NNPC retail. At the end of the day, we have also Afreximbank, which I think they are now going to be the bank in between.
“They’re now going to be like the settlement bank, you know, between Dangote, other refiners, and NNPC, in terms of crude, and then in terms of selling of the products.”
Dangote expressed hope that the initiative would revive a lot of industries, including those in plastics, cooking gas, and even the aviation industry will benefit from the policy.
Dangote, who revealed that his refinery was producing about 420,000 barrels per day, assured that it has enough naira crude, adding that it would be able to fully satisfy the local market.
“But when the NNPC refineries start work going forward, Nigeria will be one of the biggest exporters of petroleum products in history.
So, today, as we speak, the meeting went extremely very well, and Mr. President has also said that he will support domestic industries.
“By supporting domestic industries, you know he is going to allow our refineries to work. So, our refineries will work and it will be a win-win situation.
