Mr Rasaq Quadri, a former president, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria not to reduce inflation rate to single digit by fiat.

Quadri said yesterday in Lagos that the apex bank should rather focus more on job creation to stabilise the economy.

The inflation rate increased from 11.7 per cent in November to 12.3 per cent in December 2012.

He said that since the inflation rate was already high, the country needed to be productive to bring the rate down.

"The idea of forcing it down to single digit cannot work because we can't control what we don't have," he said.

Quadri urged that the government open up the economy by making effective use of the untapped resources.

According to Quadri, when there is improvement in the economy, the inflation rate will come down drastically.

He stressed that there were many untapped resources that the government could explore to provide more jobs.

- NAN