FG Reaffirms Commitment to Naira-for-Oil Policy to Ease Forex Pressure

The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the Crude and Refined Product Sales in Naira initiative, positioning it as a strategic pillar to ease Nigeria’s foreign exchange (forex) pressures and secure long-term energy independence.

This assurance was given during a high-level meeting of the Technical Sub-Committee on the Crude and Refined Product Sales in Naira, held on Tuesday in Abuja.

The session, which aimed to assess the progress of the initiative and tackle implementation bottlenecks, was chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, who also heads the main Implementation Committee.

Joining him was Mr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Chair of the Technical Sub-Committee, along with senior officials from across Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain. Attendees included the Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr. Dapo Segun; representatives from NNPC Refineries and NNPC Trading; Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals; and key regulatory agencies such as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), and Afreximbank. The meeting was coordinated by Committee Secretary, Hauwa Ibrahim.

According to a post shared by the Federal Ministry of Finance on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, the initiative is not a short-term fix but a long-term policy direction approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The government views the policy as essential to its broader economic transformation agenda, particularly amid efforts to reduce Nigeria’s exposure to global oil price shocks and stabilize the naira.

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While acknowledging ongoing challenges, the Committee stressed that these are being tackled through structured inter-agency coordination and active stakeholder engagement.

Key concerns highlighted at the meeting included infrastructure and logistics hurdles, misalignment between upstream producers and downstream offtakers, pricing issues, and operator compliance — all of which are being addressed through what the Committee called “coordinated efforts among all parties.”

The government maintained that the initiative would continue as long as it aligns with national interest and economic goals. It added that the program is designed to be adaptive, evolving in response to market dynamics and regulatory inputs.

It will be recalled that in March 2025, the initial six-month pilot phase of the Naira-for-Crude program officially ended.

At the time, NNPC Limited’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, confirmed that the pilot was successfully concluded, setting the stage for long-term policy adoption.

The continued implementation of the Naira-for-Oil strategy signals the government’s intention to further reduce the country’s dependency on the U.S. dollar for energy transactions, support local currency stability, and deepen structural reforms across the petroleum sector.