The Federal Executive Council has approved President Tinubu’s proposal to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other upcoming refineries in Naira. This directive includes not only the sale of crude oil to Dangote Refineries but also extends to the sale of Dangote’s products to others, all transactions conducted in Naira.

Currently, Dangote Refinery requires 15 cargoes of crude annually, amounting to $13.5 billion. NNPC Limited has committed to supplying four of these cargoes. Under the new directive, 450,000 barrels of crude earmarked for domestic consumption will be sold to Nigerian refineries in Naira, with Dangote Refinery serving as the pilot for this initiative. The exchange rate will be fixed for the duration of the transaction.

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and other Nigerian settlement banks will facilitate the trade between Dangote Refinery and NNPC Limited. This intervention aims to eliminate the need for international letters of credit and is expected to save the country billions of dollars currently spent on importing refined fuel.

This policy is a welcome development, anticipated to ease pressure on Nigeria’s FX reserves and reduce monthly FX expenditure on petroleum products from approximately $660 million to $50 million, totaling $7.92 billion annually. This marks a 94 percent reduction, saving $7.32 billion. The policy will also lower finance costs, which currently stand at $79 million, associated with opening letters of credit between local refineries.

Technically, the government is offering local refineries a production subsidy, which would favor modular refineries more than Dangote Refinery due to their smaller capacity. However, NNPC will start with Dangote Refinery before extending to other refineries. NNPC Limited has committed to supplying four cargoes to Dangote Refinery while Dangote looks elsewhere to source the remaining cargoes.

The current oil production level makes it challenging for the government to supply Dangote with 15 cargoes of crude annually. To address this, lawmakers should consider amending Section 109 of the PIA, related to guaranteeing feedstock to refiners, and introduce backward integration programs to help refiners invest in onshore fields. This would ensure a steady supply of crude oil to local refineries, increase Nigeria’s oil production, attract more Foreign Direct Investments into Nigeria’s oil sector, and alleviate the government’s burden.

Nurudeen Adeyemi

The ultimate crime barrier and Proudly South African partner, Trellidor, will be exhibiting at this year’s Decorex at the Sandton Convention Centre from 1 – 4 August 2024. As a member of the #BuyLocal movement, Trellidor has fostered a ‘design-local, buy-local’ approach for 45 years and four years as a Proudly South African partner.

“We enjoy being a part of the design conversation from ideation. Decorex is known for its ability to connect visitors, suppliers and trade under one roof. It is here that ideas can be turned into reality and what better place to discuss the safety of the home, office or space in a creative yet practical way,” says Damian Judge, Trellidor, sales & marketing director.

Assisting the Trellidor conversation at Decorex is its Proudly South African membership.  Since 2020, the ultimate crime barrier has been an active member, placing more emphasis on its #buylocal approach. Whether functional or lifestyle, Trellidor accommodates all designs.

“We are renowned for our traditional trellis style security gates but come visit our stand to experience the full range of our offerings, including security louvre style shutters, roller door shutters designed to create safe zones within a home or business, and secure mesh screens, which are perfect for enjoying your outdoor environment while still keeping safe from pests and more,” says Judge.

As Decorex focuses on lifestyle trends and designs, Trellidor fits perfectly into this space. Judge says that with each product manufactured to specification, colour and requirement, Trellidor ensures that every customer will find the perfect product to suit their space: “Knowing what security you want will help in designing your home or building specific to your security requirements. This makes things easier for designers, architects and specifiers. This is why we are at Decorex, so you don’t leave the security conversation too late, rather consider these components from the beginning and ensure you have a holistic design.”

Specifiers can also access the Trellidor Technical Portal, powered by BIM 4U. Once registered, using the email address linked to their specific BIM license to gain access, the specifiers will have access to their projects and can specify the security directly from the portal.

For those that haven’t considered their security options, Judge says that Trellidor products are designed to be retrofitted to any space: “If your design or build project is nearing completion and you have not yet specified your security products, Trellidor will manufacture as a retrofit to suit your needs.”

Over the weekend many telecom subscribers/consumers were unable to access their phone lines because of the inability of many telecom consumers to verify their National Identification Numbers (NINs) with their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs). This meant that their numbers were blocked by their telecom service providers in keeping with laws and policies of the NIN-SIM linkage.

Telecoms consumers and the public will recall the compulsory linkage of NIN with SIM which began in December 2020 when the government directed telecommunication companies to bar unregistered SIM cards and SIMs that were not linked to NIN.

Since December 2023, the Commission has since reviewed the deadline a few times; April 15, 2024 was set as the deadline for the full network barring of subscribers with four or fewer SIMs that had unverified NIN details. This deadline was then reviewed to July 31, 2024, to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified. Despite these extensions, many phone lines are yet to be linked with verified NINs.

The objectives of this exercise by the Federal Government of Nigeria include enhancing national security and ensuring the national SIM ownership database is accurate. The NIN-SIM linkage policy aids in verifying and protecting users’ identities while also providing a critical infrastructure that assures access to the benefits of a robust digital economy for the citizenry.

The consumer is our priority, therefore, considering the challenges the blockages have caused, the Commission has directed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend in view of the short time available for consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs with their SIMs. Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM.

Members of the public who are yet to verify their SIMs are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to maintain access to their lines.