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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Business magnate and Tony Elumelu Foundation founder, Tony Elumelu has praised President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to boosting Nigeria’s small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), young entrepreneurs, and the power sector, describing their latest meeting as a “super elating” alignment on economic revival.
“It’s always a pleasure and a privilege to be granted audience by Mr President. I love to sit with the President and discuss economic issues, give feedback from what we think is happening the economy, and then constructively agree,” Elumelu told State House reporters after the closed-door session with the President.
As a member of the Presidential Economic Council, he highlighted their focus on SMEs: “Today we talked about small and middle scale enterprises, how to further support Nigerian medium and small scale enterprise. Mr President is very passionate… about capacitising the small and middle school entrepreneurs in Nigeria. And I’m very happy to hear that, to feel that, to sense that, because they are the engine of economic growth. We spoke a lot about it.”
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Elumelu spotlighted Tinubu’s tax reform push and Bank of Industry (BOI) interventions as key boosters. “He talked about tax reform and how he want to use that to support small and middle scale enterprises. He spoke about Bank of Industry. I was super impressed. He even called the name of the CEO… he likes what is going on, and he wants them to do more to support small and middle scale entrepreneurs in the country. To me, it was gratifying.”
Linking it to his foundation’s global youth entrepreneurship drive, Elumelu called the synergy “super exciting. It shows there’s Congress and alignment, and I believe that this is what Nigerian youth need. So I thank Mr President for that commitment and looking forward to greater things happening.”
On his 2026 economic outlook, Elumelu commended monetary policy stability under Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso. “I also discuss what’s happening in the country in the monetary policy… what the Central Bank governor and his team are doing is 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.”
He noted a dramatic shift in business concerns: “If I got 10 calls on banking issues, seven of those calls were about how to access foreign exchange. Today, if you get 10 calls on banking issues, not even one is on FX. FX, that market is totally sorted. So I think the central bank going to do well. Mr. President is also should be commended for creating that space for the governor to do what he and his team are doing.”
