Otedola: Tinubu’s reforms putting Nigeria on growth path 

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Businessman and billionaire, Femi Otedola has praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic reforms, citing developments in Nigeria’s financial markets, foreign reserves and investment climate as signs of what he described as growing economic confidence.

Otedola made the remarks after attending a private dinner with Tinubu in Paris on Monday evening.

In a post on X, the businessman said the President’s reforms had placed the Nigerian economy “on a path of sustainable growth” and expressed his support for the administration.

Otedola pointed to several economic indicators, including Nigeria’s return to the FTSE Russell Frontier Market classification and the inclusion of six Nigerian companies in the FTSE Frontier 50 Index.

The companies are FirstHoldCo, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria Communications, Dangote Cement and Aradel Holdings. FTSE Russell’s September review added the six companies to the 50-stock benchmark, with the changes taking effect from September 21.

Nigeria’s return to the frontier-market classification followed a period during which the country had been excluded from FTSE Russell’s classification. The index provider had placed Nigeria under additional assessment after the country moved from a T+2 to a T+1 settlement cycle, before subsequently concluding that the change had not created material operational or funding problems for investors.

Otedola also referred to the performance of the Nigerian Exchange, which has reached record levels in recent weeks.

The NGX All-Share Index closed at 249,804.56 points in the week ending September 18, while market capitalisation crossed N162 trillion as investors positioned themselves ahead of Nigeria’s return to the FTSE frontier-market classification.

Another indicator highlighted by Otedola was Nigeria’s foreign-exchange reserves.

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso said on September 22 that the country’s reserves had crossed $55 billion, describing the level as the highest in more than 18 years. More recent figures put gross reserves at about $55.25 billion as of September 18, providing roughly 11.3 months of import cover for goods and services.

Cardoso has attributed the improvement in the external position partly to the CBN’s approach to reserve management and stronger inflows, while also pointing to improvements in Nigeria’s balance of payments.

Otedola’s comments therefore come against a backdrop of measurable changes in Nigeria’s financial and external-sector indicators.