Dr Titus Okunrounmu, a former Director, Budgetary Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has called on the Federal Government to make concerted efforts at repairing the nation’s refineries for good economic performance in 2021.
Okunrounmu, who made the call on Wednesday, in Ota, Ogun, said: “The country needs to build and repair its refineries, if it wants to have a good economic performance in 2021.
He stated that there were no oil producing countries who sold crude oil, only to go abroad and buy refined petroleum products, except Nigeria, saying that once the country stopped exporting crude oil, and began refining, the whole world would come to Nigeria to buy refined petroleum products.
The former director said besides enabling the country meet its domestic demand for refined petroleum products, the economy would be more buoyant with the revenue in-flow.
He further said that the by-products like aviation fuel, engine oil, among others, from the crude oil, could be exported to earn foreign exchange for the country, which it can plough back into diversifying the economy, as well as leverage to lift the nation out of recession.
