The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, retained his position as Africa’s richest person and was listed as the 51st richest person in the world in the Forbes 2016 World’s Billionaires list released on Tuesday.
Dangote’s net worth, according to the magazine, has risen to $15.4bn from $14.7bn in 2015. He was ranked 67th in the 2015 list.
The 2016 list, which contains 1,810 billionaires in dollar terms, also has four other Nigerians apart from Dangote.
These are the Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga; Chairman of Forte Oil, Mr. Femi Otedola; Founder and Executive Chairman, Famfa Oil Limited, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija; and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu.
Adenuga, whose net worth was put at $10bn, was ranked 103rd on the global list; while Otedola, with a net worth of $1.8bn, was ranked 1,011th.
Alakija, estimated to be worth $1.6bn, came in the 1,121st position, while Rabiu was ranked the 1,577th billionaire in the world, with a net worth of $1.1bn.
The five were on the Forbes 2015 World’s Billionaire list.
However, Dangote, Adenuga, Otedola and Rabiu moved up on the 2016 list, while Alakija dropped down.
Dangote, Adenuga, Otedola and Rabiu emerged 51st, 103rd, 1,011th and 1,577th in this year’s list, from 67th, 393rd; 1,741st and 1,741st, respectively in 2015.
Alakija, who was ranked 949th last year, was listed in the 1,121st position this year.
Despite the economic crisis in Nigeria, the five billionaires are said to have increased their net fortunes by $7bn (N1.4tn). They had a combined net worth of $29.9bn this year, down from $22.9bn the year before.
In the Forbes 2015 World’s Billionaires list, the fortunes of Dangote, Adenuga and Alakija were put at $14.7bn, $4.2bn and $2bn, respectively, while Otedola and Rabiu had a net worth of $1bn each.
Although the Nigerian billionaires had their fortunes increased, the situation was not totally the same globally.
According to Forbes, volatile stock markets, falling oil prices and a stronger dollar led to a dynamic reshuffling of wealth around the globe, and a drop in 10-figure fortunes for the first time since 2009.
For the 30th annual guide to the world’s richest, Forbes found 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago.
Forbes said the aggregate net worth was $6.48tn, which is $570bn less than that of last year.