Nigeria Dumps Dollar And begins Selling Crude Oil in Naira Ahead Of Brics Submit

The US Dollar has been the world’s dominant reserve currency since 1944, but can it retain this position? It seems not because the BRICS de-dollarization campaign is gaining more traction and many more countries, especially in the Global South, have jumped on its train. Recently, Nigeria, one of Africa’s strongest economies, has become the latest country to implement the BRICS de-dollarization policy by selling its crude oil in its local currency. This is fantastic but it begs the question “Why did Nigeria decide to ditch the US dollar for the Naira, given the fact that it has a fairly stable relationship with the US? What does Nigeria have to gain from selling its crude in Naira and What does this mean for Africa? Let's find out.

At the beginning of this month, the Nigerian Finance Minister, Wale Edun, confirmed in a recent post on X, that Nigeria would begin to sell crude oil to the recently established Dangote refinery and other local refineries in the country’s local currency, the naira. This move, approved in July by the Federal Executive Council, ensures that 450 thousand barrels of crude oil allocated for domestic use are sold in naira rather than dollars. You see, the Nigerian economy is largely determined by its major resource, crude oil. The sale of crude oil in dollars for decades has consistently weakened the Nigerian local currency against the dollar in the international market. This is the case with every other African country's economies. Despite the implementation of the monetary policies and practices suggested by the Western-led IMF and World Bank, the local currency has remained weak, leading to high rates of inflation and a high cost of living.