Building new refineries is key to meeting domestic demands – Ex-CBN director

A Former Director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Titus Okunrounmu, has called on the federal government to redoubt its efforts towards building new refineries in order to meet domestic demands for petroleum products.

Okunrounmu made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Ota, Ogun.

He spoke while reacting to the persistent increase in the pump price of diesel and resurfacing of petrol scarcity in some part of the country.

The Ex-CBN director noted that building new refineries had become necessary considering the size and population of the country.

He explained that the crude oil balance could be exported to the world, thereby generating more income to boost the nation’s revenue base.
This, he said, that the additional revenues generated from selling the crude oil could be used to pay salaries of workers rather than borrowing to pay workers’ salaries.

“If the country exported crude oil to other Countries, the nation will be in money, and Nigeria will be what God want us to be.

“God loves Nigeria so much that He gave us that crude oil before independence and it is still there today,” he said.

Okunrounmu stressed the need for the federal government to develop new refineries due to the collapse of the four major ones in the country.

He listed the four refineries which are operating below their optimal capacities to include two in Port-Harcourt, and those in Warri and Kaduna.

Okunrounmu advised the Federal Government against depending on individuals who has refinery or presently building one to check monopoly power in the country.

He noted that if an individual-owned refinery fails for a day in the supply of petroleum, the whole country would be in serious problem, adding that there is no wisdom waiting for a monopoly to solve the problem of petroleum supply in the country. (NAN)