The National Economic Council has approved the refinancing of the $3.3 billion Project Gazelle Pre-Export Finance Facility through a new $4.5 billion financing arrangement expected to provide an additional $3 billion in liquidity to the federation.
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The new arrangement, known as Project Gazelle 2, will enable the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to refinance the outstanding balance of about $1.5 billion under the original facility while raising an additional $3 billion to support the Federal Government’s fiscal and infrastructure priorities.
The approval was among the major resolutions reached at the 159th meeting of the council, held virtually and chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, said the council approved the proposal following a presentation by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.
Oyedele reportedly explained the expected fiscal benefits of the refinancing and its potential to strengthen Nigeria’s external reserves while creating additional financial room for federal and state governments.
NEC noted that the transaction would unlock additional liquidity for the federation and pledged its support for its successful implementation.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, Oyedele said the refinancing was negotiated on terms more favourable to Nigeria than those attached to the original Project Gazelle facility.
According to him, the volume of crude oil pledged under the financing arrangement would be reduced from 90,000 barrels per day to approximately 78,750 barrels per day.
The reduction represents 12.5 per cent of the original daily crude commitment and would release an additional 11,250 barrels per day to the federation.
Oyedele said the revised structure would allow the country to access more liquidity while reducing the quantity of crude committed by NNPC Limited to servicing the financing.
The original Project Gazelle was structured as a crude oil-backed pre-export financing facility under which NNPC committed future crude supplies in exchange for upfront foreign currency funding.
Under Project Gazelle 2, the outstanding $1.5 billion from the earlier arrangement would be absorbed into the new $4.5 billion facility, leaving approximately $3 billion in additional funding available to the federation.
The finance minister said the arrangement would free resources for strategic national priorities and improve the country’s financing structure.
The government expects the inflow to support fiscal obligations, infrastructure projects and other economic priorities while contributing to the strengthening of Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Vice President Shettima called for a responsive, scalable and data-driven social protection system capable of addressing multidimensional poverty across the country.
He said the success of government policies would ultimately be determined by their effects on the daily lives of citizens rather than by official pronouncements or policy documents.
“Our policies are often heard before they are seen. They speak through the price of food, the condition of our hospitals, the records in our schools, the strain on families, the confidence of those who invest their labour in our nation’s future and, very importantly, the ambitions of our state governments,” Shettima said.
The Vice President urged members of the council to ensure that their decisions reassured Nigerians that the government understood the country’s challenges and was responding with competence, compassion and purpose.
He stressed that an effective social protection framework remained essential to reducing poverty and improving the welfare of vulnerable citizens.
Shettima called on the council to prioritise policies that could be expanded where necessary and whose impact could be objectively measured across the federation.
The implementation of Project Gazelle 2 is expected to proceed after the completion of the required financing, documentation and operational arrangements by NNPC Limited and the participating financial institutions.
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