Nigerian billionaires saw their wealth in listed companies grow by N512.5 billion in the month of January 2022, with Abdulsamadu Rabiu of BUA and his son alongside Jim Ovia leading the gainers’ list in the review month.

According to report closely followed by Freelanews, tracking the worth of notable shareholders of listed companies in Nigeria. The list ranking 15 Nigerians showed that their collective wealth from their direct holdings rose from N2.12 trillion recorded as of December 2021 to N2.63 trillion by the end of January 2022.

Meanwhile, Abdulsamadu Rabiu, the founder of BUA Cement and BUA Foods, seats top on the list with a net worth of N2.39 trillion, based on his direct holdings in the two companies, while his son with N115.4 billion, stands second on the list.

Notably, the stock market performed impressively in the month of January as the All-share index rose by 9.15%, pushing the market capitalization above N25 trillion. Nairametrics presents a list of notable billionaires, considering only their stated direct holdings in listed companies on the NGX.

The Chairman of both listed BUA companies (BUA Cement and BUA Foods), Abdulsamadu Rabiu is the biggest gainer in the review month, as his direct worth in both companies increased by N465.1 billion in January to N2.39 trillion. This is attributable to the 61% increase in the share price of the newly listed Bua Foods and the marginal 5.5% increase in the price of Bua Cement.

Abdulsamadu Rabiu (Jr), followed as the second gainer, through his direct holdings in BUA Foods as his worth increased by N43.73 billion to stand at N115.41 billion as of the end of January 2022. Jim Ovia also gained N3.19 billion in the review month, owing to the 3.6% increase in the share price of Zenith Bank.

On the flip side, the likes of Wole Oshin of Custodian Investment and Ifeoma Esiri of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, lost N23.9 million and N7.99 million respectively from their direct stake in their respective companies in January.
Abdulsamadu Rabiu – N2.39 trillion

BUA Cement’s chairman and founder, Abdulsamadu made the top list with a combined net worth of N2.39 trillion from his direct stake in the Cement company and Bua Foods, the newly listed consumer foods company.

Rabiu has 16.17 billion direct stakes in BUA Foods, according to the information in the company’s listing memorandum, individually controlling 89.95% of the company. He also owns 19.04 billion units of shares in BUA Cement directly and 12.2 billion indirectly through Damnaz Cement, BUA International, and BAU Cement company, summing up to a 92.27% controlling right of the company.

As of the end of January 2022, his direct shares in BUA Cement were worth N1.04 trillion, while his stakes in BUA Foods stood at N1.35 trillion, hence his N2.39 trillion valuation.

He is currently ranked 5th in the list of richest people in Africa, with a net worth of $6.5 billion according to the Forbes ranking.

Abdulsamadu Rabiu (Jr) – N115.41 billion

The son of billionaire founder, Abdulsamadu Rabiu Jr. is second on the list of billionaires through his 1.79 million direct stakes in BUA Foods, representing 9.96% of the company. His stakes in the company is currently worth N115.4 billion as of the end of January 2022.

He and his billionaire father have approximately 99.8% controlling interest in BUA Foods, which has grown significantly to the elite categories of stocks worth over one trillion (SWOOT) on the Nigerian stock market.

Jim Ovia – N92.38 billion

Nigerian business mogul, Jim Ovia is the founder of Zenith Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Nigeria. He owns 3.55 billion units of shares directly in the bank with an additional 1.53 million indirect shares, giving him a controlling right of 16.16% in the company.

His direct stake in the bank rose to N92.38 billion as of January 2022 from N89.19 billion recorded as of the end of December 2021. According to his bio on Forbes, he also owns prime real estate across Nigeria, and mobile telecom operator Visafone, which has 3 million subscribers.
Aliko Dangote – N18.63 billion

Africa’s richest man and billionaire philanthropist, Aliko Dangote owns N27.64 million shares directly in Dangote Cement and 14.62 billion indirect shares in the company through his other businesses (Dangote industries). Collectively he controls 85.97% of the company.

Also, Aliko Dangote has 673.1 million shares in Dangote Sugar directly, representing 5.38% of the company. His worth in Dangote Cement through his direct stake rose to N7.2 billion in January, while that of Dangote Sugar rose to N11.43 billion, summing up to N18.63 billion.

While Dangote is by the far the richest man in Nigeria and Africa, with a net worth of $13.9 billion, the ranking only considered the direct holdings of the billionaire in publicly listed companies. It is also worth noting that the billionaire launched his Car assembling company in conjunction with Peugeot and the state government of Kaduna and Kano in January 2020, while his refinery is set to commence operation later in the year.

Gbenga Oyebode – N5.1 billion

Gbenga Oyebode is one of the founding partners and Chairman, Management Board of Aluko & Oyebode law firm. He is also the Chairman at Okomu Oil Plc and a member of the board of directors of several publicly quoted and private companies in Nigeria.

Gbenga owns 35.94 million direct shares in Okomu Oil and 5.73 million indirect shares, representing a controlling interest of 4.37% in the company. His direct worth in the company stood flat at N5.1 billion as of the end of January 2022.

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.