Mr Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, on Tuesday, said the sale of crude in naira to local refiners had set the Nigerian economy on the path of industrialisation and modernisation.
Edun, chairman of the committee, said this while addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu to review the sale of crude in naira to local refiners at the Presidential Villa.
According to him, the bold initiative, endorsed fully by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), ensures crude oil is sold to local refiners in naira, who in turn sell refined products to marketers in naira.
He said although there was much to be done, but there was a clear path to industrial development and modernisation of the Nigerian economy, because the key prices were right, which was encouraging private sector investment.
“With private sector refining of crude oil, we now have raw materials, not just for agriculture, but for industry, for chemicals, for paints, for building materials and 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 NNPC to restore its balance sheet, restore its financial fortunes, and to give the federal, state and local governments more funding.
“This allows them to meet their obligations, salary payments to workers, social services to the population generally, and key infrastructure development,” said Edun.
The minister said the meeting reviewed the progress of the initiative to ensure that the initial obstacles to successful implementation of sale of cruse in naira to domestic refiners and the correlating sale of petroleum products in naira were overcome.
He said AfreximBank, the financial adviser, was part of the meeting, and would act as an intermediary to ensure that the parties – the seller of the crude, the buyer of the crude – were able to complete their transactions.
Edun said the scheme initiated by the President, was made possible also by the courageous and bold investment of the Dangote group, in a local refinery of 650,000 barrels per day capacity.
He said the implementation committee and the sub committee had worked assiduously with all stakeholders to ensure the initiative was implemented.
The stakeholders include the regulators, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NNDPRA) and Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Others are: the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) NNPCL, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Navy and a host host of other stakeholders.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, chairman, Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company, said his company would be able to satisfy local demand with the supply of crude so far by NNPCL.
“This initiative will actually revive a lot of industries in plastic, cooking gas, which is LPG, aviation, gas, Oil, not only PMS.
“At about 420,000 barrels per day, we still have capacity to grow. We are ramping up our capacity. Once we get there, we have enough naira crude, we’ll be able to fully satisfy the market.
“But when NNPC refineries start working going forward, then Nigeria will be one of the biggest exporters of Petroleum products in history,” said Dangote.
He said the President pledged at the meeting to support domestic industries, and allow local refineries to work, and attract more investment into the country.