The Federal Government is set to deliver up to 400,000 barrels of Nigerian crude oil daily to the Dangote refinery under its naira-for-crude agreement, a report by Bloomberg stated on Monday.

It said this significant development is expected to take place over the next two months, amounting to 24 million barrels of Nigerian supply between October and November 2024.

This increase in processing capacity could have substantial implications for both the refinery’s operations and the local oil industry, transforming the region’s import and export markets.

This new development follows the announcement by the Federal Government that the naira-for-crude deal has commenced.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is set to begin the supply of crude oil in naira to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery this week with three more refineries set to start the production of Premium Motor Spirit.

According to cargo allocations reviewed by Bloomberg News, Dangote’s increasing reliance on local feedstock will disrupt the Atlantic oil market by substantially decreasing Nigeria’s crude exports.

The 650,000-barrel-a-day plant — larger than any other in Africa or Europe — will claim 13 to 14 shipments from Nigeria’s typical monthly program of about 50 cargoes.

The West African crude market is set to be “substantially tighter” in the fourth quarter because of the supply to Dangote, said Ronan Hodgson, a London-based analyst at FGE.

The volumes could even send Nigerian exports below 1 million barrels a day, he said.

Some shipments over the next two months may not be delivered as planned, and October’s list includes two cargoes already delayed from September.

Still, the scheduled volume is significantly larger than the average 255,000 barrels a day of Nigerian oil taken in by Dangote over the first half of the year as it gradually ramped up processing, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Dangote is already running at 60-70 per cent capacity and will reach its full rate within months, project management firm Engineers India Ltd. Chairman Vartika Shukla said last month.

The latest allocations also suggest that Dangote has continued to curtail its buying of US crude, according to traders.

Earlier this year, the refinery imported millions of barrels of WTI Midland, before re-selling some of the oil and scrapping plans to buy more.

Nigerian National Petroleum Co. reached an agreement with Dangote last month under which the country’s state-owned energy firm will supply crude in return for being the sole distributor of the refinery’s crucial gasoline production.

If Dangote’s ramp-up continues to advance in the coming months, Nigeria could start to realize its long-held goal of curbing costly oil product imports.

“If the refinery runs at higher rates, the West African market for gasoline and diesel imports will shrink extremely quickly,” FGE’s Hodgson said.

…Partners Federal Ministry of Women Affairs to empower 500,000 women.

Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, through its women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema, has partnered with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs to launch MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme, an initiative aimed at empowering 500,000 women across Nigeria with vocational and business management skills. 

SARA by Wema is Wema Bank’s women-focused proposition established with the goal of promoting gender inclusion and equality by empowering women with tailored resources, opportunities and solutions essential to enable them thrive personally and professionally.

Through SARA, Wema Bank continues to empower thousands of women across Nigeria with access to finance and financial support, access to market, networking opportunities, affordable to free healthcare and a host of other benefits curated specifically for women; partnering with reputable brands and institutions where ideal to proliferate impact.

The newly inaugurated MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme is one of these such partnerships which is positioned to transform the lives of women across the country for the best.

MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme is set to run for 24 months and will cover 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The focus will be on two areas: vocational skills and business management skills with a schedule encompassing two days of soft skills and business management skills, followed by two days of vocational training.

The final day will be dedicated to an assessment and evaluation session. For vocational skills, the programme will target three main aspects which include food processing, fashion designing and hairdressing.

The 5-day in-person training session will be organised into eight cohorts with the initial pilot phase starting in Anambra and spaning to Ekiti and Kano.

This capacity building and women empowerment programme will equip more Nigerian women to earn revenue, become economically active, contribute to national development and will ultimately serve to further bridge the gap in gender inclusion.

Tunde Mabawonku, Wema Bank’s Executive Director of Retail and Digital, expressed confidence in the programme’s potential for empowering women to thrive.

According to her, “Nigeria’s ever-evolving macroeconomic landscape calls for an acutely intentional approach to providing tailored solutions and opportunities to empower our people, especially the women.

“At Wema Bank, we understand this need as captured in our mission of empowering lives through innovation and we are very intentional about tailoring our empowerment efforts to the needs of our diverse customer demographics.

“This commitment is evident in our solutions, partnerships, products, initiatives, and propositions; one of which is SARA by Wema. Recognising the need for tailored solutions that help women thrive, we launched SARA in 2019 as a dedicated avenue for reaching out to women across Nigeria, empowering them with unique solutions tailored to their needs even beyond banking, and providing them with the support they need to maximise their potential.

“This is the basis of our work through SARA, and this is what has informed the launch of MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme. Our goal is to help women navigate the challenging economic terrain by providing them with skills for self-employment, resources for productivity and support for success”.

“I encourage every woman out there who is willing to learn a skill with potential for income generation, to register for the MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme. We also have grants reserved for this programme so it’s a total package designed to help these women become economically active.

“Inclusion runs deep for us so we have curated this programme such that women of various ages from any part of the country can participate and reap the benefits of this programme. To every woman out there, I also take this opportunity to invite you to join the SARA Community, our community for women who want better. There are so many opportunities rooted in the SARA and every woman can tap into this extensive range of benefits as a SARA Woman”, Mabawonku said.

The Minister for Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, added, “I believe that if we empower the women and they start making money, a lot of prevalent challenges faced by women as a result of gender inequality may be averted. This partnership is beyond the Federal Ministry of Women Affair, it extends to the Nigerian Women Affairs.

“Our goal is to ensure the sustainability of all women empowerment initiatives, which is why we are bringing in the private sector. On this project, Wema Bank is evidently ready to fly and we are committed to flying together to achieve our objectives”.

MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme was launched at a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony which held on Monday, September 30, 2024 at the Ministry of Women Affairs Office in Abuja.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it sold a total of $543.5 million in the Nigerian foreign exchange market (NFEM) to authorised dealer banks in September.

In a statement signed by Omolara Duke, director of, financial markets department, on Friday, CBN said the foreign exchange (FX) was sold to the authorised dealers from September 6 to 30 in 11 dealing days.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold a total of US$543.5 million (Five Hundred and Forty- Three Million, Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars Only) from September 06-30, 2024, to Authorized Dealer banks through two-way quotes at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) on 11 dealing days,” CBN said.

“The FX spot sales were to reduce observed market volatility driven by high demand for commodity importation and seasonal demand for FX. The value dates for all the transactions. were T+2.”

A breakdown summary of the sale shows that on September 6, $39,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,580-N1,605/$.

On September 9, $66,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,570-N1,585/$; on September 11, $77,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,540-N1,575/$; while on September 13, $46,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,540-N1,575/$.

Also, on September 18, $24,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,530-N1,540/$; on September 19, $28,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,540-N1,555/$; on September 20, $31,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,540/-N1,545/$; and on September 23, $17,500,000 was sold at N1,540/$.

More sales were made on September 26, with $80,000,000 sold at a range of N1,570-N1,580/$; on September 27, $79,000,000 was sold at a range of N1,530-N1,580/$; and on September 30, $56,000,000 was sold at the range of N1,540/S.

The apex bank said the information on the sale is to educate and provide guidance to the general public on the pricing of FX by taking a clue from the range of rates at which FX was sold by the CBN to authorised dealer banks.

CBN also said it will continue to facilitate the supply of FX into the NFEM as part of its holistic FX management strategy.

On August 11, the CBN said it sold foreign exchange (FX) to banks worth $876.26 million at N1,495 per dollar.

Two months ago, the apex bank sold foreign currencies worth $148 million in the NFEM to authorised dealer banks between July 22 and 23.