The Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list has revealed that three Nigerian billionaires – Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Mike Adenuga’s combined wealth would fall by $9.3 billion in 2023.
The Forbes’ wealth-tracking tool gives ongoing updates on each individual confirmed to be a billionaire’s net worth and ranking.
When relevant stock markets are open, the value of individuals’ public holdings is updated every five minutes.
Dangote, Rabiu, and Adenuga’s fortunes fell 33.9 percent to $18.1 billion as of 3 p.m. on December 29, 2023, down from $27.4 billion on January 30.
According to the data, Dangote’s fortune has plummeted by $4.1 billion to $9.4 billion, Rabiu’s fortune has dropped by $1.9 billion to $5.7 billion, and Adenuga’s fortune has dropped by $3.3 billion to $3 billion.
“The devaluation of the naira would have affected their wealth because the currency has lost its value against the dollar,” said managing director of Afrinvest Consulting Limited, Abiodun Keripe.
He went on to say that the billionaires have the majority of their enterprises in Nigeria and that converting the worth of their businesses from naira to dollar will result in a loss of value.
The liberalization of the foreign exchange rules in June as part of economic stimulus measures resulted in a significant depreciation of the naira.
The Central Bank of Nigeria consolidated all components of the foreign exchange market into the Investors and Exporters window and reinstated the willing buyer, willing seller model.
Since then, the naira has continued to fall in value versus the US dollar and other major foreign currencies.
As of December 28, the official exchange rate has dropped from N463.38/$ to N1,043.09/$. On the parallel market, the naira fell from 762/$ to 1,210/$.
In June, Forbes claimed that Dangote had lost his position as Africa’s richest person for the first time in 12 years. It was reported that Johann Rupert of South Africa, who amassed a fortune in luxury products and other areas, had surpassed the Nigerian industrialist.
“The decline of Dangote’s fortune came in the wake of the CBN’s decision to float its currency, the naira, on June 14, abandoning the fixed exchange rate with the U.S. dollar,” the report said.
According to the newest 2023 Billionaires Ambitious report, billionaires in Nigeria raised the country’s wealth by 19.7 percent in one year, three weeks ago.
According to a research by a major investment bank and financial services firm, UBS, their total worth increased to $28.5 billion in April 2023 from $23.8 billion the previous year.
“An obvious reason for the uptick in wealth would be the benefit of the stronger oil price, given that Nigeria is usually Africa’s biggest oil producer,” according to analysts at UBS.
