Tony Elumelu says Nigeria FX market stability has ended dollar access woes, praising CBN reforms under Cardoso and Tinubu’s policy backing

Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa, said in Abuja on Friday that Nigeria FX market stability has ended the long running difficulties businesses once faced in accessing dollars, crediting reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria under Governor Olayemi Cardoso.

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Tony Elumelu spoke to correspondents at the Presidential Villa after meeting Bola Tinubu, stating that predictability has returned to the foreign exchange system and reduced pressure on banks and businesses.

“There was a time before if I got 10 calls on banking issues, seven of those calls was about how to access foreign exchange. Today, if you get 10 calls on banking issues, not even one is on FX. That market is totally sorted,” Tony Elumelu said.

Tony Elumelu, who is also Chairman of Transcorp and a member of the Presidential Economic Council, said the administration had created the policy space for the apex bank to implement reforms that restored confidence.

The Central Bank has, since September 2023, unified exchange rate windows, adopted a willing buyer willing seller model, cleared a verified backlog of about seven billion dollars in foreign exchange obligations and introduced an Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System to improve transparency.

External reserves have also risen to over 43 billion dollars in 2025 from about 33.6 billion dollars in October 2023, according to central bank data.

Tony Elumelu said stability and the ability to predict economic direction are essential for planning and investment, commending the President for supporting the reform process.

The banker, however, urged the Federal Government to fast track payments owed to power generating companies, stressing that improved electricity supply remains critical to economic growth.

“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,” Tony Elumelu said.

Through Transcorp, Tony Elumelu’s group operates the Ughelli and Afam power plants and holds a majority stake in the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.

At the company’s annual general meeting in April 2025, Tony Elumelu disclosed that the government owed the group over N600bn for electricity supplied to the national grid.

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Tony Elumelu added that discussions with the President also covered support for small and medium scale enterprises, tax reform and the role of the Bank of Industry in expanding access to finance for entrepreneurs.