The Federal Government has maintained its commitment to the Crude and Refined Product Sales in Naira initiative, describing it as important to alleviating the country’s foreign exchange (forex) pressures and ensuring long-term energy security.
This reaffirmation came during a high-level update meeting of the Technical Sub-Committee on the Crude and Refined Product Sales in Naira held on Tuesday.
The session was convened to assess progress and address ongoing implementation challenges associated with the strategic policy.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, who also serves a Chairman of the overarching Implementation Committee. He was joined by Mr. Zacch Adedeji, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Chairman of the Technical Sub-Committee.
Also in attendance were senior officials from across the oil and gas value chain, including the Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr. Dapo Segun, representatives from NNPC Refineries and NNPC Trading, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, as well as key regulatory stakeholders such as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), and a representative of Afreximbank. The meeting was coordinated by the Committee’s Secretary, Hauwa Ibrahim.
Policy Continuity and Strategic Direction
The initiative, according to a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the Federal Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, is not a temporary or stop-gap measure but a long-term policy direction approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The government sees the initiative as a critical pillar in its economic transformation agenda, particularly in light of its commitment to reducing Nigeria’s exposure to global oil price volatility and stabilizing the naira.
Addressing Implementation Bottlenecks
While acknowledging that no major policy reform is without its teething problems, the Committee emphasized that challenges currently facing the program are being systematically addressed through inter-agency collaboration and stakeholder engagement.
Issues raised at the meeting included logistics and infrastructure bottlenecks, coordination between upstream producers and downstream offtakers, pricing templates, and compliance by key market operators. These, the Committee said, are already being handled through “coordinated efforts among all parties.”
The government emphasised that the initiative will remain in force as long as it aligns with national interest and economic objectives, further noting that the program will evolve in response to market realities and regulatory feedback.
More insights
In March 2025, Nairametrics reported that the Naira-for-crude initiative of the federal government had ended.
A statement issued following this development by the NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, confirmed that the pilot phase of the arrangement was made for six months.
