Ex-CBN chief says selling nation’s assets will further restrict income

Dr Titus Okunronmu, a former Director in the Budgetary Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has said sale of 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 the sales would yield little because the assets would be poorly priced since the country needed the 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 generate various employment opportunities,” he said.

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

He said that Nigeria had all it needed 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-orientated 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.