PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu believes the naira for crude transactions will stabilise the oil sector.
Tinubu said this on Tuesday in a review meeting with the Implementation Committee on the Naira-based sales of crude oil and refined products.
“Whatever solution we proffer in crude oil and refined products sales in Naira should not take us back to our experience in the last 40 years,” presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga quoted his principal as saying in a Tuesday statement.
“There can be cost and revenue adjustment in the oil sector, but the issue is that the government will not have to go back to the old way of doing things.”
According to him, using the naira was aimed at removing the exchange rate hurdle.
He lauded the committee for their efforts and asked the members to resolve any teething problems.
President Tinubu called on stakeholders in the oil sector to work for the betterment of the Nigerian economy and the living standards of Nigerians.
He called on them to look inward and consider supplying enough petrol and petroleum products for local consumption to stop the persistent reliance on importation.
Tinubu advised stakeholders to use Afreximbank as a settlement bank to resolve the naira pricing for crude and refined products. Afreximbank is already on board as the financial adviser, Onanuga’s statement read.
“The market must determine what we are doing. Once you allow the market to determine the profit and loss, independent marketers and the government side can meet on the worksheet. I want the issues resolved without future waste of time,” the Nigerian president added.
“We can have energy security, and the motivation for Alhaji Aliko Dangote will not be defeated. It will be more predictable on a medium and long-term basis,” Tinubu said.
