Mele Kyari, the head of NNPC, has refuted allegations suggesting that the company was unwilling to sell crude oil to Dangote in naira as part of a scheme to undermine the refinery.
He said, “There are too many claimants out there, that the NNPC does not want to sell crude to the refinery in naira as a form of sabotage. Far from it! It makes no difference to us because if you sell crude to the domestic refinery in naira and you buy the product in naira from the domestic refinery, it’s a net zero gain. You lose nothing, you probably gain nothing.
“Otherwise, whatever you do, you still have to source foreign exchange to import if you have to import. So, if you stop the import and sell in naira, what you are simply doing is just a substitution. It’s a settlement platform and we must commend the President for bringing this initiative.
“What it will do to our country is that the biggest source of FX pressure in our country is the import of PMS. It’s the highest value. That means if you can take that under control, it means that speculation around the naira to the extent of those FX that is required for domestic product supply will be eliminated.
“That means speculation will go, you would have controlled inflation, and you would have controlled the FX pressure because willould have settled the exchange rate for 50 per cent of your imports. This is a very great initiative. I should commend the President for bringing this initiative.”
