Governor of Imo State and Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Sen. Hope Uzodimma, has said that the economic reforms introduced under the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have significantly strengthened Nigeria’s fiscal position, lifting foreign reserves to $49.4 billion.
Uzodimma stated this on Monday while addressing members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Nigeria at an interactive session in Abuja, where he presented the economic trajectory of the Tinubu administration since May 2023.
He disclosed that Nigeria’s foreign reserves rose from about $32 billion in mid-2024 to $49.4 billion by the end of March 2026, representing approximately 13 months of import cover.
The governor said the improved reserve position reflected stronger macroeconomic management and enhanced confidence in Nigeria’s economy.
The governor told the diplomats that the administration’s twin reforms – the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market – had fundamentally altered the country’s fiscal outlook and restored investor confidence.
He described the removal of petrol subsidy as one of the most consequential anti-corruption measures ever undertaken in Nigeria, arguing that the previous subsidy regime had become a massive conduit for fraud and revenue leakages.
Uzodimma argued that resources previously lost to subsidy payments are now being redirected toward infrastructure development, social investments and fiscal expansion.
He further stated that the naira float and exchange rate unification had restored transparency to the foreign exchange market by eliminating the multiple exchange rate windows that previously encouraged arbitrage and rent-seeking.
According to him, the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates, which previously exceeded 30 per cent, has now fallen below two per cent.
‘The chaos that used to make Nigeria’s macroeconomic indicators effectively fictitious has been retired,’ he said.
‘An investor coming into Nigeria today can build a financial model that holds. A multinational planning regional headquarters in Lagos or Abuja is no longer asked to bet on which exchange rate will be enforceable when the time comes to repatriate earnings.’
Uzodimma also disclosed that diaspora remittances, which hovered around $200 million monthly in 2023, have increased to an average of $600 million monthly, while foreign exchange market liquidity reached $10 billion in April 2026.
He added that the administration had cleared over $10 billion in foreign exchange liabilities and secured more than $50 billion in foreign direct investment commitments.
The governor further cited credit rating upgrades by Fitch Ratings and Moody’s as evidence that international institutions were beginning to acknowledge the impact of the reforms.
On fiscal expansion, Uzodimma said monthly FAAC disbursements now range from N1.8 trillion to N2.6 trillion, compared with substantially lower figures before the reforms.
According to him, state governments now receive between N700 billion and N800 billion monthly, with allocations to states reaching N784 billion in February 2026, representing a 23 per cent increase over the corresponding period in the previous year.
The governor said the increased revenues have transformed the fiscal capacity of subnational governments.
‘Thanks to this policy, the era of state governors travelling to the Federal Capital to ask for emergency bailouts to pay salaries is over,’ he stated.