Mr Eddie Osarenkhoe, former President, Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN), on Sunday urged the Federal Government to embark on comprehensive rehabilitation of the nation’s three refineries to ensure maximum efficiency.
Osarenkhoe made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The refineries are in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri.
Osarenkhoe said that repairing them would enable the country to feel the impact of the rising prices of crude oil at the international market.
He lamented the continuous importation of petroleum products for domestic consumption, saying the practice had made the rising prices of crude oil not to be felt in the nation's economy.
Osarenkhoe also said Nigeria, being one of the largest exporter of crude oil, should position itself in a favourable way that would deliver good standard of living to its citizens.
“The rising Nigerian crude oil in the international market is supposed to impart positively on the economy and alleviate the suffering of the citizens,” he said.
He added that the government set 79 dollars as benchmark for crude oil in the 2013 budget and the prices had been fluctuating between 109 and 116 dollars at the international market.
“If the Federal Government can repair the refineries and manage the excesses from the crude oil effectively, these will lead to infrastructure building and development,” Osarenkhoe said.
He said the effective use of the surplus would also impart on the Gross Domestic Product by adding value to per capital income of the people.
“The government deficits have been on the increase due to the uncontrollable spending that had imparted negatively on the inflation rate,” he said.
Osarenkhoe, however, advised the Federal Government to be disciplined in its spending and ensure that the recurrent expenditure was drastically reduced.
He suggested that government should also use part of the surplus to address the epileptic power supply, to ensure stable electricity and attract inflow of foreign investors. (NAN)