Ex-CBN director advises FG on refineries, forex

A former Director, Budgetary Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Titus Okunronmu, has advised the Federal Government to intensify  efforts to make the refineries functional in order to stop the exportation of petroleum products.

Okunronmu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, in Ota, Ogun, that developing the nation’s refineries would reduce the great demand for foreign exchange.

According to him, the problem the country is facing is not managing the foreign exchange, but managing the crude oil resources.

The former CBN director, however, advised the government to borrow money to develop the oil refineries.

“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 said.

Okunronmu also said 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.

Hesaid that the foreign exchange receipts had gone down, but unfortunately the Federal Government had not been able to proffer   policies that would address the problem.

He urged 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.