Seplat Energy has already named him chairman-designate from January 2027, extending his reach into Nigeria’s oil sector
Tony Elumelu will retire as Group Chairman of United Bank for Africa on August 21, 2026. He completes the maximum 12-year tenure the Central Bank of Nigeria allows non-executive directors of banks. UBA’s board named Emmanuel N. Nnorom, a serving non-executive director, as his successor with effect from the same date.
The board met on July 6 and disclosed the leadership change in a statement. The retirement follows the CBN’s revised Code of Corporate Governance for banks and financial holding companies. The apex bank introduced the code in 2023, and it caps non-executive directors and chief executives at 12 years in the role.
Elumelu became UBA chairman in 2014. During his tenure, the bank’s customer base grew from about 10 million to more than 50 million. Its operations expanded into 20 African countries alongside financial hubs in London, Paris, New York and Dubai.
“UBA has established a unique competitive position across Africa and globally, and I leave the board with great confidence in the bank’s future,” Elumelu said in the statement announcing his exit.
He also endorsed his successor. “Emmanuel Nnorom is a leader of integrity, experience, and sound judgement, and I am confident that the bank will continue to thrive under his leadership,” Elumelu said.
Nnorom currently leads Heirs Holdings, Elumelu’s pan-African investment vehicle, as group chief executive officer. He also chairs Transcorp Hotels Plc. He previously served as president and chief executive of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, another Elumelu-linked company. UBA described him as a chartered accountant with more than 40 years of experience across banking, finance and auditing.
“I am honoured by the trust the board has placed in me and deeply conscious of the legacy I inherit,” Nnorom said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the board, management and our staff across all our markets to sustain UBA’s momentum.”
Elumelu remains chairman of Transcorp Group. The conglomerate’s subsidiaries include Transcorp Power and TransAfam Power, both active in Nigeria’s electricity generation market.
Seplat chairmanship from January 2027
Elumelu’s UBA exit comes months after Seplat Energy named him chairman-designate of its board, effective January 1, 2027. He succeeds Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, who retires on December 31, 2026.
The appointment follows a major share purchase. Heirs Energies bought a 20.07 per cent stake in Seplat from French firm Maurel & Prom for about $500 million. The deal closed in December 2025 and made Heirs Energies the company’s single largest shareholder. Elumelu joined Seplat’s board as a non-executive director in January 2026 before Seplat elevated him to the chairmanship.
“I am honoured to succeed Senator Udoma as chairman in January 2027 and to lead the board through Seplat Energy’s next phase of growth,” Elumelu said when the appointment was announced in June. “I firmly believe in the critical role indigenous resources play in the economic transformation of Nigeria and Africa.”
Seplat ranks as Nigeria’s largest indigenous oil and gas producer, and it trades on both the Lagos and London exchanges. The company’s 2024 acquisition of ExxonMobil’s Mobil Producing Nigeria shallow-water assets roughly doubled its production base
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What Comes After Elumelu’s UBA Chapter
Elumelu’s departure from UBA does not end his commercial influence in Nigeria; it relocates it. Between the Transcorp power subsidiaries, the incoming Seplat chairmanship and Heirs Holdings’ broader portfolio, his remaining roles cluster around energy and power generation rather than banking.
Two of Nigeria’s most persistent constraints on industrial growth stand out: unreliable electricity supply and gas feedstock shortages for domestic power plants. Elumelu’s post-UBA positions give him direct board influence over companies on both sides of that equation. Seplat produces gas and oil. Transcorp Power and TransAfam generate electricity.
Elumelu has long framed his investment activity around Africapitalism, the philosophy that the African private sector, not aid or government spending, should drive the continent’s long-term development. His energy and power holdings fit that framing: Heirs Holdings has described its Seplat and Transcorp positions as efforts to close Nigeria’s power deficit through private capital rather than public investment. Whether the two businesses will operate as a coordinated push toward that goal, though, is Elumelu’s own stated ambition rather than a confirmed corporate plan.
It’s too early to tell whether that positioning will improve gas-to-power supply in practice. Seplat’s ANOH project delivered first gas in January 2026, but neither company has confirmed a commercial link between Seplat’s output and Transcorp’s generation capacity. Readers should treat any framing of a unified “energy strategy” across Elumelu’s holdings as informed speculation, not a disclosed corporate plan, unless the companies confirm coordination.
The governance dimension also merits scrutiny. Nnorom’s move to the UBA chairmanship follows years in leadership roles at Heirs Holdings and Transcorp, both Elumelu-linked entities. His appointment keeps UBA’s chair within Elumelu’s wider business network even as Elumelu steps off the board. That arrangement breaches no disclosed rule, but it remains a detail worth watching as Nnorom’s tenure begins.