Ex-CBN director flays selling nation’s assets

Dr Titus Okunronmu, a former Director in the Budgetary Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has said that selling the country’s assets to boost the economy will further restrict income.

Okunronmu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ogun, that rather than restrict income the government should redistribute income through untapped resources.

According to him, selling the assets to those in government means that income has further been restricted instead of redistributing income.

He said that to sell the nation’s asset was not a problem but who would be the buyers and who would manage the proceeds from it?

Besides, Okunronmu said that the sales would yield little because the assets would be poorly prized since the country was in need of scare forex.

“What should be done, in my own opinion, is that the Federal Government should utilise untapped resources to boost the economy.

“There should be the immediate fixing of the four refineries at optimal capacity to check the use of scare forex on importation of petroleum products.

“This and other untapped resources will create the platform for our products to be sold to other West African countries as well as generating various employment opportunities,” he said.

He said that the country was endowed with many untapped resources which urgently needed to be used to return the country to path of growth.

He said that Nigeria had all it takes to become one of the top 10 economies in the world if adequate political will was applied.

According to him, this is the right time for the government to look inward in solving the economic challenges of the country.

The former CBN director added that fixing foreign exchange issues was not a problem but depending less on imported goods was the issue.

"We need to be less import-oriented country and nationally our love for imported goods must change because the demand for dollars for such goods was exerting heavy pressure on the nation’s currency,” he said.