Nigerian billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has been displaced by South African Johann Rupert to become Africa’s richest man, Forbes Magazine has revealed.
Rupert’s net worth is currently $12 billion according to Forbes Real-time Global Billionaires Ranking, while Dangote trails behind him with a net worth of $10.8 billion as of Friday.
Dangote’s net worth dropped due to the recent operational charges on the foreign exchange market carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which led to the depreciation of the Naira against the US dollar.
Consequently, Forbes and Bloomberg had to recalculate the fortunes of all Nigerian billionaires leading to the significant drop in the wealth of Dangote, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the founder of BUA cement, and Mike Adenuga, the Chairman of telecommunications giant Globacom Limited.
Meanwhile, with the expected kickoff of the $20 billion Dangote refinery commissioned last Month, Aliko Dangote is expected to bounce back.
Recall that the Presidents of Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Togo, and Chad had applauded the Chairman of the Dangote Group, over the establishment of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Plant in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The leaders, who joined their Nigerian counterpart, President Muhammadu Buhari, at the inauguration of the 650,000 bpd refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos State, said the refinery which is one of the biggest in the world will make Africa better and stronger.
The President of Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo, explained that; ‘This spectacular project, the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex makes West Africa better and stronger. And I congratulate this distinguished patriotic son of Africa for the shear brilliance of this initiative’.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall, who also spoke on behalf of Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe, said that the Dangote refinery project will improve access to electricity for Africans many of whom still have no electricity access.