The Federal Government has restated its commitment to ensuring the steady supply of refined petroleum products across the country.
This assurance was contained in a statement issued by the Director of Information and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mohammed Manga, in Abuja on Sunday. According to him, the steering committee of the Domestic Crude Oil and Refined Products Sales in Local Currency Initiative met earlier in the day to review developments in the downstream sector.
He disclosed that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, raised the issue of the purported suspension of the Naira-for-crude oil arrangement by the Dangote Refinery, noting that the matter had since been amicably resolved. He also explained that concerns earlier expressed by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) regarding the refinery had been addressed.
Edun, who chaired the committee, reaffirmed that the crude oil-for-Naira initiative would continue, adding that all outstanding issues, particularly the dispute between PENGASSAN and the Dangote Refinery, were being handled with urgency and in good faith. He stressed that the government remained committed to energy security, consumer protection, and market stability.
Present at the meeting were the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu; the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Zacch Adedeji, who also chairs the technical committee; as well as representatives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Afreximbank, and the Dangote Refinery.
The refinery maintained that its restructuring exercise became necessary after what it described as acts of sabotage in some units of the facility, which it said posed serious risks to human lives and operations.
