Involved Residents Discussion board has accused the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted, NNPCL, of systemic failures and deliberate sabotage of Nigeria’s vitality sector.
Talking at a press convention, the President-Common of the Discussion board, Samuel Olakitan, stated the choice of the NNPCL to cease the Naira-for-Crude initiative will negatively affect Nigeria’s economic system.
Olakitan, due to this fact, referred to as on President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on the management of the NNPCL.
He stated: “The latest coverage maneuvers made by the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted (NNPCL), underneath the management of Mele Kyari, has molded the NNPCL into an emblem of incompetence, corruption, and a obtrusive betrayal of nationwide curiosity.
“It’s with a heavy coronary heart and a way of urgency that we name on the Nigeria President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to declare a state of emergency on the management of NNPCL.
“We wish to elucidate the genesis and rationale of the naira-for-crude initiative. This coverage was inaugurated on 1st of October, 2024. It was meticulously crafted to strengthen home refineries by facilitating their procurement of crude oil utilizing the naira forex.
“This sensible transfer got here with the constructive expectation of bolstering home refining capacities, attenuate our long-term dependency on imported petroleum merchandise, and fortifying the naira by assuaging the incessant strain on our overseas alternate reserves.
“Nonetheless, regardless of our plentiful crude oil reserves, the truth is starkly completely different. The NNPCL’s abrupt suspension of this visionary association has created consternation and trepidation amongst stakeholders and the citizenry alike.
“This sudden coverage reversal ostensibly compels our native refineries to acquire crude oil on the worldwide market, necessitating transactions in U.S. {dollars}. Such a paradigm shift is poised to escalate operational expenditures, which can invariably cascade all the way down to the populace by way of inflated gas costs on the pump.
“This has been aptly described because the “NNPCL anti-local refinery agenda,” a paradox of Nigeria’s oil wealth.
“Furthermore, the NNPCL’s justification for this suspension, predicated on the assertion that it has dedicated its crude oil manufacturing to ahead contracts, ostensibly leaving no provide for home refineries, is each perplexing and disconcerting.
“This revelation is especially confounding given studies indicating an uptick in Nigeria’s crude output because the inception of the naira-for-crude deal. This coverage just isn’t solely absurd but additionally economically untenable.
“It defies logic for native refineries, that are presupposed to be the spine of Nigeria’s vitality safety, to be subjected to the vagaries of overseas alternate markets to entry crude oil produced inside our personal nation.”
In keeping with the Discussion board, the ramifications of this coverage shift are profound. It stated that the Dangote Refinery, a monumental $20 billion funding with a refining capability of 650,000 barrels per day, was envisaged because the panacea to Nigeria’s protracted reliance on imported refined petroleum merchandise.
“The suspension of the naira-for-crude association imperils the operational viability of this refinery, probably rendering it much less aggressive and undermining its capability to ameliorate home gas provide constraints.
“This resolution is an incontrovertible absurdity and a transparent indication that the NNPCL is extra serious about destroying native refineries than in supporting them.
“This coverage volte-face is poised to exacerbate the volatility of the naira. As home refiners scramble to supply U.S. {dollars} for crude procurement, the resultant surge in demand for overseas forex is prone to precipitate a depreciation of the Nigerian naira, thereby inflating the price of imported items and stoking the embers of inflation.
“The suspension of the naira-for-crude deal is undoubtedly antithetical to the overarching goal of accomplishing vitality self-sufficiency. This coverage has inadvertently perpetuated our dependency on imported petroleum merchandise, thereby additional exposing the nation to the vicissitudes of worldwide oil worth fluctuations and attendant provide chain vulnerabilities which is harmful to our fragile economic system for the time being.
“The alignment of NNPCL’s strategic priorities with nationwide {economic} pursuits is without doubt one of the many questions emanating from the scrutiny of the underlying motivations propelling this coverage shift on the NNPCL’s predilection for forward-selling crude oil, ostensibly on the expense of home refining imperatives.
