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Dangote’s World’s 64th Richest Person, Worth $16.6bn, Gains $5.8bn in One Day

Published

5 years ago

February 28, 2019

Eric

The President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, gained $5.8bn within 24 hours as his total net worth rose to $16.6bn on Tuesday.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, showed that his wealth fell from $10.5bn at the end of last year to a low of $9.63bn on January 1, 2019. But it grew to $10.8bn on Monday, February 25.

The index also revealed that his net worth increased by 23 per cent from $13.5bn on February 26, 2018, to $16.6bn, emerging 64th richest person in the world.

Dangote, who has seen his wealth rise by 58 per cent so far this year, emerged the second biggest mover after Andrew Forrest, founder and largest shareholder of Fortescue Metals Group, the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer. Forrest’s wealth has grown by 59 per cent this year.

He was the only Nigerian on the list of 500 billionaires and retained his position as Africa’s richest person.

Other Africans on the list were Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa, who was ranked 216th with a net worth of $7.05bn; Johann Rupert of South Africa (ranked 225th with $6.92bn wealth); Nassef Sawiris of Egypt occupied the 228th position with $6.83bn; Natie Kirsh of South Africa (ranked 263rd with a net worth of $6.10bn) and Naguib Sawiris of Egypt emerged 331st with a fortune of $5.12bn.

“Dangote controls Dangote Industries, a closely held conglomerate. The Lagos-based company owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, which had revenue of N805.6bn ($2.4bn) in 2017. It also has interests in sugar, salt, flour, fertiliser and packaged food,” said Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, net worth figures are updated every business day at the close of every trading day in New York, with assets categorised as publicly traded companies, private assets (including closely held businesses, art and real estate), cash and other liquid investments and liabilities.

“Stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the share’s most recent closing price. Valuations are converted to US dollars at current exchange rates,” it said.

The Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, remains the richest person in the world with a total net worth of $136bn while Bill Gates and Warren Buffett occupied the second and third positions respectively with $98.4bn and $83bn fortunes.

Dangote was also recently named the sixth most charitable man in the World by Richtopia, a digital periodical that covers business, economics, and financial news, based in the United Kingdom. The recognition came after he endowed his foundation, the Aliko Dangote Foundation to the tune of $1.25bn.

He started the foundation in 1981, with a mission to enhance opportunities for social change through strategic investments that improve health and well-being, promote quality education, and broaden economic empowerment opportunities, according to the group.

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We’ve Become Embarrassment to the World, TY Danjuma Laments

Published

4 mins ago

April 20, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

A former Minister of Defence, and Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), has lamented that Nigeria is a war front, and has become an embarrassment to the world, while appealing to all and sundry to be their brother’s keeper and cease killing one another, in order to attract foreign investors from across the world.

Danjuma, who spoke Friday at the opening ceremony of the Nwonyo International Fishing and Cultural Festival in Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba State, said Nigeria has devolved into a war zone where citizens are killing one another.

He said: “There is no sane foreign person that will come to our country to celebrate with us if we continue to kill each other and make our roads unsafe for people to move around.

“As we are today as Nigeria we are a disgrace to the whole world. The country is a war front where our people are against our own people.

“We must put our house in order because right now we are a laughing stock to the whole world.

“We must stop killing each other. We must make our roads safe. We must stop kidnappings.

“If we are expecting this festival to be truly international, we must have peace in our State and throughout the country.”

It would be recalled that the former Minister, in rare fit of outburst, while speaking at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University, called out the military, accusing them of colluding with terrorists in an attempt to indulge in ethnic cleansing.

Born about 86 years ago, Danjuma was the Chief of Army Staff from July 1975 to October 1978. He was also Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

According to Wikipedia, Danjuma was born in Takum, Taraba State (formally Gongola), Nigeria, to Kuru Danjuma and Rufkatu Asibi. Takum was mainly a farming community when Danjuma was young, and yams, rice, cassava, and beniseed were largely cultivated by families and clans. His father was a hardworking peasant whose ancestors were all highly respected members of the community. Kuru Danjuma was a farmer who traded metal parts for farming implements and tools.

He started his education at St Bartholomew’s Primary School in Wusasa and moved on to the Benue Provincial Secondary School in Katsina-Ala where he was the captain of the school cricket 1st XI team; he received his Higher School Certificate in 1958. In 1959, Danjuma enrolled at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria (Ahmadu Bello University) to study History on a Northern Nigeria Scholarship.

However, by the end of 1960, Danjuma had left the university to enroll in the Nigerian Army.

Danjuma’s military sojourn will be incomplete without a recount of the role he played on the July 29, 1966, when he, alongside other officers of northern extraction, stage a retaliation coup, killing the Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi, and his host, Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The operation, code named July Rematch, also had Murtala Mohammed, Buka Suka Dimka, Muhammadu Buhari, Sani Abacha, Musa Usman, Ibrahim Taiwo, Ibrahim Bako, Ibrahim Babangida, and others as participants.

Though Danjuma had denied the roles he supposedly played in the coup and killings of the two ranking officers, reports detail as follows: “Danjuma picked up Nigeria’s first military Head of State General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and first military Governor of the former Western Region Lt Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi (who was hosting Aguiyi-Ironsi at his residence in Ibadan) from the side of the road, as there were escaping an ambush orchestrated by Danjuma, Mohammed, Dimka, Buhari and others.

“Danjuma held them captive in the back of his car and drove off to an isolated area in Oyo state, where he ordered them to get out and shot them in cold blood.”

The events of that day turned out to be the harbinger of a 30 months catastrophic war, which claimed millions of lives, especially from the South East region of the country.

Today, Danjuma is in the habit of giving back to the society, using his TY Danjuma Foundation. The foundation has continued to take care of persons and institutions the distinguished soldier come across with.

“To show my gratitude to my country and to the Almighty God, I give,” he said

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Breaking: Wike Plans to Attend Thursday’s PDP NEC Meeting

Published

3 days ago

April 17, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NECeeting on Thursday is not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

Political stakeholders have concluded that the outcome of Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan.

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Bribery, Corruption: APC Suspends National Chairman, Ganduje

Published

5 days ago

April 15, 2024

Eric

The All Progressives Congress ward in Ganduje, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, has suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

The party ward legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, announced the suspension while addressing newsmen in Kano State on Monday.

Gwanzo cited allegations of bribery against Ganduje levelled by the Kano State Government as the reason for the suspension.

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact the Chief Press Secretary to the APC National Chairman, Mr Edwin Olufo, failed as his mobile phone was unreachable.