Chairman, Economic Association of Nigeria, Professor Adeola Adenikinju, has advised the Federal Government to find ways to expand oil production capacity as part of measures to resolve the economic challenges currently facing Nigeria.
Adenikinju, a professor of petroleum economics, said that the recent share of oil in gross domestic product (GDP) has contributed negatively to Nigeria’s economic growth rate.
Speaking at a seminar organized by students of the Department of Economics, Bowen University, Iwo Jima, Osun State, on Saturday, Adenikinju noted that the revival of the oil sector would have a positive impact on other sectors of the economy.
He said, “In recent times, NNPC has not been remitting money to its federal account because of subsidies and because of reduced production. Our foreign exchange reserves have decreased and that is why today’s Part of the problem with the value of the naira is because there is not enough foreign currency to back it.
“We need to get our oil back and one of the things they have to do is increase production. We used to produce more than 2 million barrels a day, but vandalism and oil theft At one point, production was less than 1 million barrels.
“We need to get oil to contribute to foreign exchange again like before. Gas production is also affected because not enough oil is being produced.”
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