United Bank for Africa (UBA) Chairman Tony Elumelu has declared that Nigeria’s foreign exchange challenges are now a thing of the past.
Speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa on Friday, Elumelu stated that the FX market is now “totally sorted,” freeing businesses from the chronic dollar shortages that previously stifled operations.
He lauded the Central Bank of Nigeria, under the leadership of Governor Olayemi Cardoso, for restoring stability and predictability to the nation’s economy.
To illustrate the shift, Elumelu noted that while seventy percent of his previous business inquiries were once focused on FX scarcity, those concerns have effectively disappeared.
“Today, if you get 10 calls on banking issues, not even one is on FX. That market is totally sorted,” he told reporters.
Elumelu, who serves on the Presidential Economic Council and chairs Transcorp, argued that the current administration’s policies have paved the way for the CBN to implement its reform agenda effectively.
He said, “If you see what the Central Bank Governor and his team are doing, it’s quite encouraging; we’ve had some predictability and stability.
“What’s important is to be able to predict, in an economy, the direction of things, so you can plan very well.
“Mr President also should be commended for creating that space for the governor to do what he and his team are doing.”
Persecondnews recalls that the CBN, since Cardoso assumed office in September 2023, has implemented sweeping reforms to stabilise the foreign exchange market.
These include unifying multiple exchange rate windows in October 2023, adopting a willing-buyer-willing-seller model, clearing a verified backlog of $7 billion in foreign exchange obligations, and introducing the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System in October 2024 to enhance transparency.
Nigeria’s external reserves have also rebounded, rising to over $43 billion in 2025 from about $33.6 billion in October 2023, according to data from the apex bank.
Elumelu, however, called on the Federal Government to fast-track payment of debts owed to power-generating companies, noting that improved access to electricity remained critical for economic development.
“Improvement in access to electricity is critical for economic development.
“Mr President realises this, embraces it, and is committed to doing more, especially helping to fast-track the payment of the power sector debt so that the power generators can do more for the country,” he said.
He added: “All of us who are in the power sector are owed significantly, but in spite of that, we continue to generate electricity, so we want to see the payment made so that there is more provision of electricity to the country.”
Elumelu’s Transcorp Group holds significant investments in Nigeria’s power sector through Transcorp Power, which operates the Ughelli Power Plant with an installed capacity of 972MW and the Afam Power Plant with 1,000MW capacity.
The group also acquired a 60 per cent stake in the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company in 2023.
At Transcorp’s annual general meeting in April 2025, Elumelu disclosed that the Federal Government owed the company over N600bn, approximately $400m, for electricity supplied to the national grid.
During his meeting with the President, Elumelu said they also discussed support for small and medium scale enterprises.
“Mr President is very passionate about capacitising the small and medium scale entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
“He talked about tax reform and how he wants to use that to support small and medium scale enterprises. He spoke about Bank of Industry and I was super impressed.
“He even called the name of the CEO, that he likes what is going on, and he wants them to do more to support small and medium scale entrepreneurs in the country,” he said.
Leave a comment