The Federal Government says its naira-for-crude initiative with local refineries is not a temporary measure but a “key policy directive designed to support sustainable local refining”.
The government also said the initiative is still in effect and will continue immediately, overruling the decision of the NNPCL under its former boss Mele Kyari which tenured the initiative.
The Minister of Finance Wale Edun at a meeting with representatives of the Dangote Refinery on Tuesday said the naira-for-crude is still in effect.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024 directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
However, in March 2025, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months, with March 2025 as the expiration date.
Subsequently, the Dangote Refinery temporarily halted the sale of petroleum products in Naira. “This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company had said.
The $20bn refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from NNPCL.
Immediately, the pump price of petrol jumped from around ₦860 to about ₦1,000, making consumers pay at least ₦70 more than what it used to cost them to buy a litre of the premium commodity days earlier.
The refinery, however, said would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
Days later, President Bola Tinubu fired Kyari and the entire NNPCL Board. In their stead, the president appointed a new 11-man board with Bashir Ojulari as the Group chief executive officer and Ahmadu Kida as non-executive chairman.
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.
It would also reduce the pump price per litre of petrol, which suddenly jumped from ₦860 in March 2025 to around ₦1,000 in April 2025 after the NNPCL and Dangote Refinery both announced the termination of their six-month contract.
Nigerians are expected to experience some relief from high, dollar-denominated imported fuel with the resumption of naira-for-crude initiative.
