Photo: Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man.
Dangote hits N354bn gain in 24hrs, eyes world’s 20th wealthiest man’s ranking
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has become the 75th richest person in the world after making 354.8bn ($769m) in one day.
Analysts believe that Dangote will become the 20th wealthiest man in the world next month when his refinery finally comes on stream towards the end of July.
The billionaire who had remained around the 80th richest man in the world for over a year made the massive leap on Wednesday, after earning $769m on Tuesday.
His wealth surged by $769 million within just one day, that is, an increase from his net worth of $20.5 billion which he had occupied for the past four months to $21.2 billion currently, according to Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
Dangote, whose 650,000bpd capacity refinery was commissioned on May 22, 2023, made the massive jump, thanks to the strong showing of Dangote Cement, his primary source of wealth.
The development follows the bullish trend of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, which saw significant quoted shares jump on the news of Nigeria’s new President, Bola Tinubu, being successfully sworn in on Monday, May 29, 2023.
The shares of Dangote Cement traded at N290 on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, just a day after the inauguration of the new president, following investors’ positive sentiments.
The billionaire industrialist has said his refinery would be ready to release the first batch of refined petroleum products into the markets by July ending.
Uche Madubuogu, a financial analyst and banker, said that the Dangote Refinery could catapult him among the top 20 wealthiest men on earth.
Madubuogu said: “We will not be shocked to see his wealth surge when the refinery begins to ship products by August.”
According to him, the refinery holds an enormous promise to revitalise the Nigerian energy industry, especially the petrol import problem Nigeria has faced.
“It will help Nigeria reduce dependence on imported petroleum drops. It might help eliminate petrol import,” he said.
