By Samuel Akpan
Billionaire Femi Otedola declared on Tuesday he remains proud of President Bola Tinubu, praising the Nigerian leader’s bold and forward-thinking reforms after a private dinner in Paris.
PerSecondNews reports that the First Holdings chairman posted a photograph of himself with Tinubu on Instagram, saying the two shared a private meal in France on Monday night.
Otedola stated that Tinubu’s reforms have placed the Nigerian economy firmly on a path of sustainable growth.
He listed growing evidence – leading Nigerian companies now feature on the FTSE Russell Frontier 50 Index and the NGX is trading at historic highs.
Otedola also pointed to higher foreign direct investment, renewed economic confidence, a unified and more stable foreign exchange market, and reserves standing near $55 billion.
He said: “The results are increasingly evident top Nigerian companies now included on the FTSE Russell Frontier 50 Index, the NGX at historic highs, increased foreign direct investment and renewed economic confidence, a unified and more stable foreign exchange market, foreign reserves standing strong at about $55 billion, and so much more.”
“I remain proud of you, Mr. President!” Otedola added.
Tinubu is expected back in Nigeria on Tuesday after a four-week leave that began when he left Abuja for London on August 30.
He spent about a week in London before flying to Paris, where he met French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Vincent Bolloré, whose interests include Canal+, MultiChoice and Universal Music Group.
Vincent Bolloré is the 74-year-old French industrialist whose family still controls Bolloré SE, a Brittany-born group that started in paper in 1822 and is now a media-and-energy holding company.
Forbes put the family’s fortune around $9.3 billion in late September 2026.
Bolloré is the largest shareholder in Canal+ (about 30.4%), the London-listed pay-TV and entertainment group with more than 40 million subscribers in 70-plus countries.
Canal+ already led Francophone African pay-TV. It then bought South Africa’s MultiChoice, owner of DStv, GOtv, Showmax and SuperSport.
Nigeria is both the prize and the problem, MultiChoice lost about 1.4 million Nigerian subscribers over two years; Nigeria drove more than half of the group’s 7% subscriber drop in the year to March 2025, after repeated price rises and a court fight with the consumer regulator.
After the takeover, prices were frozen for 2026 and Canal+ committed about €100 million to reset how DStv is priced and sold.
Canal+ also owns GVA, a fibre-to-the-home operator in about 10 African countries including Nigeria.
By end-2025 it covered more than 2.8 million homes and businesses and wants 5 million. That is the “digital interests” layer sitting beside TV
President will arrive in Lagos on Tuesday to mark Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary on October 1 before returning to Abuja at the weekend.
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