-By Victoria Opeyemi
The Federal Government has been urged to diversify its revenue base as well as encouraged private sector investment in the construction of refineries.
An analyst and expert in the oil industry, Chris Igwe, who is also the Managing Director of Mainland Oil said, local refinery of petroleum products would free most of the foreign exchange used in the importation of products thereby reducing pressure in the foreign exchange market.
He stated thus, “when you privatise refineries, those refineries will be in private hands and they will run it profitably and it will equally reduce the pressure on foreign exchange when we begin to refine products here and importation will be less.”
“If the government wants to privatise them, it should consider indigenous operators and this will help the country.”
On his part, an energy expert Jimoh Mohammed also stress the need for alternative power because it will help solve the energy problem confronted by small business operators in the country.
According to Mohammed, “we have solar and let us go into renewable energy, we have wind and several other sources, we should not just rely on gas and hydro. We should have energy mix so that if there is a system collapse and there is a problem with gas, renewable can be used to bridge the gap pending when the problem is resolved. Welders rely on public energy to work because it is cheaper than running generator including the hair dresser. These are the real fulcrum of the economy.”
Nigeria as a nation needs to compete favourably in the international market by increasing its foreign exchange earnings and reduce its level of importation into the country.
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