11 Nigerians make Forbes’ Africa’s 40 richest list, Dangote leads again

FOR the second year running, Nigerian business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, tops the 2012 edition of Forbes Africa’s 40 Richest list.

He is also the 76th on the list of billionaires in the world, with a net worth of $12 billion from $10.1 billion in November 2011.

According to Forbes, most of Alhaji Dangote’s net worth lies in publicly-traded Dangote Cement, which operates in 14 African
countries.

Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa, again, emerged the second richest, with a $6.4 billion fortune, down $100 million from the previous year.

The coveted Forbes list features 12 Nigerian business moguls, including Mike Adenuga of Globacom, who ranks fifth, with a net worth of $4.6 billion from his telecoms and oil companies.

Jim Ovia ranks 19th, with a net worth of $825 million, while Abdulsamad Rabiu, who heads the BUA Group, ranks 21st with a net worth of $675 million.

Top fashion designer, Chief (Mrs) Folorunsho Alakija, one of the two women on the list, ranks 24th with a net worth of $600 million from her efforts in the oil sector.

Also on 24th is the 73-year-old former Nigerian Defence Minister, General Theophilus Danjuma, with a net worth of $600 million from the oil sector, while the 68-year old former banker and Honey
Well Group founder, Oba Otudeko, ranks 25th with a net worth of $575 million.

At the 27th position is Mohammed Indimi with a net worth of $550 million from the oil and gas sector.

At 82, O.B. Lulu-Briggs also makes the list on the 31st spot, with a net worth of $500 million from the oil sector, while on the 37th position is Sani Bello, former Nigerian military governor from Kano State and a one-time ambassador to Zimbabwe, with a net worth of $425 million.

Standing tall at the end of the list is Hakeem Belo-Osagie, the 57-year-old Harvard-trained petroleum economist, with an estimated $400 million net worth from the oil sector