By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The need to get refineries in the country working at full capacity has been stressed by a former top shot at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Speaking at Ota, Ogun State on Saturday, the apex bank’s former Director of Budgetary Department, Mr Titus Okunronmu, emphasised that putting the refineries back in shape will boost the country’s dwindling economy.
He said the Federal Government must as a matter of urgency, intensify efforts to make the refineries functional so as to stop the exportation of petroleum products.
Mr Okunronmu said the government can go as far as borrowing to build the oil refineries in different parts of the country.
“Why should we have to take our crude oil to countries like United States and Ghana and use the foreign exchange to buy the products back from them?
“This has been one of the factors that is making foreign exchange to be unstable as well as exerting pressure on it,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He also appealed to Nigerians to patronise locally made products, noting that the urge by many Nigerians to travel abroad for one reasons or the other, including purchasing of imported goods had contributed to the wide gap between the official rate and the black market.
However, advised the government to liberalise the foreign exchange market by allowing the forces of demand and supply to determine the exchange rate.
“The forces of demand and supply are the best solution that can determine the exchange rate and stabilise it,” he said.
He pointed out that the problem the country is facing is not managing the foreign exchange, but managing the crude oil resources.
Adedapo Adesanya