Dangote, Otedola, Adenuga, Rabiu Make Forbes 2024 Billionaire List 

Forbes has listed Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga, and Abdulsamad Rabiu as the top richest Nigerians in 2024.

Dangote’s fortune rose to $13.4 billion, Adenuga’s stood at $6.7 billion; while Rabiu and Otedola achieved a fortune of $5.2 billion and $1.4 billion in 2024.

Aliko Dangote, whose estimated net worth in 2024 was approximately $13.4 billion, is the richest man in Africa and the richest black man worldwide. His business empire, the Dangote Group, is the most valuable conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest sources of employment in the private sector in Nigeria.

Femi Otedola is a philanthropist and executive from Nigeria. He is currently Geregu Power Plc’s executive chairman. In addition, Otedola founded Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and is the proprietor of several other companies in the finance, real estate, and shipping industries. As part of Nigeria’s industry liberalisation, he recently made an investment in the production of electricity.

Mike Adenuga is a billionaire businessman from Nigeria. His business, Globacom, is the second-biggest telecom provider in Nigeria, with operations in Ghana and Benin. He has investments in both the oil exploration company Conoil (formerly Consolidated Oil Company) and the Equitorial Trust Bank. In 2024, Forbes projected his net worth to be $6.7 billion.

Abdulsamad Rabiu is a Nigerian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He founded and serves as chairman of BUA Group, a conglomerate focused on infrastructure, manufacturing, and agriculture with annual revenue exceeding $2.5 billion.

Forbes reports that the year has been a success for the world’s billionaires, whose wealth has increased despite war, political upheaval, and persistent inflation, according to stock markets around the world.

“As with the economy in general, the money is concentrated at the very top. There are now a record 14 people who are members of the $100 billion club, the elite group of people whose fortunes stretch into 12 digits. That is up from just one four years ago. These lucky few are worth $2 trillion in all, meaning just 0.5 percent of the world’s 2,781 billionaires hold 14 percent of all billionaires’ wealth.

“There are now more billionaires than ever: 2,781 in all, 141 more than last year, and 26 more than the record set in 2021. They are richer than ever, worth $14.2 trillion in aggregate, up by $2 trillion from 2023 and $1.1 trillion above the previous record, also set in 2021.”

According to the report, Bernard Arnault is the richest person alive and has maintained his top spot for the past two years. The French magnate of luxury goods, LVMH, which owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and Sephora, had another record-breaking year, boosting his estimated net worth to $233 billion, $22 billion more than in 2023.

“Two-thirds of the planet’s billionaires are richer than they were a year ago,” it stated. Mark Zuckerberg has benefited the most financially, with a $116.2 billion increase in just one year as a result of Meta stock nearly tripling in value due to cost-cutting measures like layoffs and significant investments in artificial intelligence and the metaverse.

Ranking fourth in Forbes’ 2024 ranking, Zuckerberg is the richest person he has ever been, with an estimated net worth of $177 billion. Larry Ellison of Oracle completes the top five with an estimated net worth of $141 billion.