Accord Party presidential candidate Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has proposed a domestic crude-pricing framework that would give Nigerian refineries access to locally produced crude on terms intended to improve their competitiveness in African and global markets.
Speaking at a Diaspora Dialogue in Ilorin, Kwara State, Olawepo-Hashim said an Accord administration would treat crude oil as a strategic industrial input rather than primarily as an export commodity.
He argued that Nigeria had for decades exported crude and imported much of the value created from refining and petrochemicals.
Under what he described as an Energy First policy, qualifying refineries, including the Dangote Refinery, would be able to access Nigerian crude through a strategic domestic pricing arrangement.
Olawepo-Hashim said the objective would be to reduce production costs, support domestic refining and position Nigerian companies to compete aggressively in regional markets.
He also promised that the policy would help lower petrol prices for Nigerians, although the source report does not provide a detailed fiscal model showing how the pricing framework would be financed or how the domestic crude price would be set relative to government revenue needs. The proposal is a campaign policy position and has not yet been tested against existing petroleum-market rules, fiscal obligations and commercial contracts
