Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, increased his wealth from $13.4 billion to $23.9 billion, making him the 86th richest man in the world. This comes a year after the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery opened in Lagos. Forbes, which lists the Nigerian businessman as the richest person in Africa, estimated Dangote’s net worth at $23.9 billion, mainly because of his 92.3% stake in the Dangote refinery.
According to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, the 67-year-old entrepreneur is once again among the top 100 richest people in the world, a position he hasn’t had since 2018.
This puts him far ahead of Nigerian Mike Adenuga, the second richest man in Nigeria and 481st in the world with a net worth of $6.8 billion, and South Africa’s Johann Rupert, who is rated 161st in the world with an estimated wealth of $14.4 billion.
By building the biggest petroleum refinery in Africa, Dangote upended the government’s oil monopoly, but he faced fierce opposition from people he referred to as the oil mafia.
The largest refinery in Africa and the eighth largest in the world, the Dangote refinery has a capacity of 650,000. Furthermore, the refinery’s nearby petrochemical complex is Africa’s largest fertiliser manufacturer, with an annual output capacity of 3 million metric tonnes of urea.
Global energy markets are already being significantly impacted by the refinery. Petroleum imports into Nigeria are expected to drop to an eight-year low, which will have an impact on European refiners who have historically sold to Nigeria.
“I want to offer an industrialisation blueprint for Africa.” We must construct our country on our own. In an interview with Forbes, he said, “We have to build our continent by ourselves, not [rely on] foreign investment.”
Dangote claimed that the refinery posed the greatest risk to his life and that failure would have had a significant impact on him. “It was the greatest risk I had ever faced.” “I was dead if this didn’t work,” he continued.
According to Forbes, Zainab Usman, the Director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stated that Dangote is viewed by Nigerians as a hero and a true industrialist who is revolutionising the nation.
He is regarded as a hero in the majority of Nigeria. She stated, “He is regarded as a true industrialist who constructs things.”
