This particular article was culled from a site and I believe it's quite interesting for my esteemed readers to read this, however, I do not agree completely with the article because there are various sources ( both overt and covert sources) to the wealth of a man. The press only make noise about the open ones and when these people are fully/partially wealthy and blowing the wealth around.
To
make wealth is an achievement; the way it is spent is style.
In
most cases, successful individuals who have created wealth through wise and
diligent investments in business hardly squander their money. They usually
prefer to reinvest their capital, including the accrued profit over the years,
into their businesses to increase their asset base and level of affluence.
The
tendency, therefore, is that the richer they are, the more their business
interests expand. In line with this corporate tradition, the rich investors get
richer and, when they spend, they do so in a big way worthy of mention. This is
because of the extensive attention attracted by their rare wherewithal and will
to spend, including doling out money on humanitarian grounds. Among Nigeria’s
privileged people are:
Aliko
Dangote
Nigerian
business tycoon Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa. He is the founder,
Dangote Group, West Africa’s largest publicly listed conglomerate with diverse
business interests such as sugar refining, flour milling, textiles, real estate
and salt processing. Dangote Cement, Dangote Foods (noodles) and Dansa Juice
complete the chain. His total net worth is about $16.1 as at March 2013.
Dangote
spends money in philanthropic activities. He has stepped up his philanthropy in
recent years, giving over $100 million to causes ranging from education and
health through flood relief, poverty alleviation to the arts. He acquired a
private jet in April 2010 as a personal gift on the occasion of his 53rd
birthday. The Bombardier Global Jet Express XRS (one out of a few) was estimated
to cost $45 million. Dangote is also said to have purchased a private luxury
yatch at the cost of $43 million made exclusively for his enjoyment. The yatch
is named Mariya after his mother.
Mike
Adenuga
Otunba
Mike Adenuga built his fortune in business from banking, mobile telecom service
and oil. He founded Globacom, now Nigeria’s second largest mobile phone
network, in 2006. Globacom has more than 24 million subscribers in Nigeria, and
also operates in the Republic of Benin. Adenuga made his first fortune at the
young age of 26 in the 1970s by distributing lace and other materials. He later
had another opportunity to expand his fortune during the military regime of
Ibrahim Babangida when he was awarded a contract for the construction of
military barracks in some military installations in the country. He is
presently worth $4.7 billion, thus justifying him as one of Nigeria’s
super-rich businessmen.
Adenuga
is a philanthropist who spends a lot of money on selfless activities aimed at
bringing succour and assistance to less-privileged people. Adenuga also takes
his philanthropic goodwill to the area of sports development in Nigeria and
Africa through his selfless investments in sports. His demonstration of philanthropic largesse
cuts across sponsorship of Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) and the
Super Eagles. This was one of the points highlighted by President Goodluck
Jonathan at his (Adenuga’s) 60th birthday. “You are celebrating 60 years of a
remarkable life filled with monumental achievements in high entrepreneurship,
philanthropy and dedicated service to God and country,” the president said.
Similarly,
the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Mr Issah Hayatou,
used the occasion of Adenuga’s birthday celebration to appreciate his
contributions to the society. He recognised that Adenuga had not only affected
Africa positively through his accomplishments in business but has also been the
pillar of sports on the continent.
Adenuga
loves spending money on what gives him joy. It could be said that, partly for
this reason, he acquired a private Bombardier Global Express jet, fitted with
the latest flight facilities. It is one of the most luxuriously built private
jets in the world, just like that of Dangote.
Jim
Ovia
Jim
Ovia started building his fortunes when he founded Zenith Bank Group in 1990.
The bank has grown to become West Africa’s second largest financial service
provider by market capitalisation and asset base. His sources of wealth are
banking, telecommunication and real estate investment.
He
also owns Quantum Luxury Properties Limited, a private equity fund with special
focus on Africa. Ovia’s total net worth is about $825 million.
He
has embarked on the establishment of a free, co-educational high school, James
Hope College, in Delta State, the place where he pondered his future as a young
man. The school, an 18-month project, launches in September with an initial
capacity for 420 students. He is also the founder of Mankind United To Support
Total Education (MUSTE), an organisation providing scholarships for the
underprivileged.
Abdussamad
Rabiu
Lagos-based
business tycoon Abdulsamad Rabiu is a son of Khalifa Isiyaku Rabiu, one of Nigeria’s
most successful businessmen in the 1970s. Little wonder therefore that he
followed in his father’s footsteps in business with interest in importing basic
commodities such as rice, sugar and cement in the 1980s.
Abdussamad
heads the BUA Group, a conglomerate with $1.9 billion in revenues and interests
in sugar refining, vegetable oil processing and flour mills. The BUA Group also
operates the BUA Cement, Nigeria’s first floating cement terminal, as well as
Nigerian Oil Mill which processes edible oil. According to Forbes magazine
report, he is the 21st richest African and is worth $675 million.
Folorunsho
Alakija
Billionaire
oil tycoon, fashion designer and philanthropist, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija is
worth at least $3.3 billion against a recent Forbes’ rating which quoted her
net worth as $600 million. She began her professional career in the 1970s as
secretary of defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria, one of the
country’s earliest investment banks.
In
the early 1980s when banking was seen as one of the most lucrative jobs, she
took a bold step towards realisation of her personal dreams by quitting her job
in the bank to study Fashion Design in England. She returned to Nigeria a few
years later to establish Supreme Stitches, a high-profile fashion firm which
provides special services to exclusive clientele. She also founded Rose of
Sharon Foundation, a charity organisation.
This
fashion design business led her into fortune. She was in a position to make and
sell high-level clothing to the fashionable wives of some military big shots
and other society women.
In
May 1993, Mrs Alakija set out for oil business. It was then she applied for an
allocation of oil prospecting licence (OPL) to explore 617,000-acre block
granted to her company, Famfa Oil Limited. However, at that time, she had no
experience in oil exploration — she was just a new entrant in the business.
Also,
Mrs Alakija is widely reported to own a private jet, Bombardier Global Express
6000 which cost about $46 million, added to acquisition of a property at Hyde
Park. This is one of the ways she spends her wealth, which gives her happiness.
Furthermore, she is a philanthropist who derives joy in giving assistance to
widows and other less-privileged in society.
Tony
Elumelu
Mr
Tony Elumelu (CON) was born in Jos on March 22, 1963. He is a renowned
economist, banker, investor and generous philanthropist. Elumelu is a
recognised African leader in corporate business. After leading United Bank for
Africa (UBA) Plc to a higher level with the acquisition of Standard Trust Bank
(STB) during the consolidation of the banking industry in 2005, he retired from
the management of UBA in July 2010.
On
establishment of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, he stated the foundation’s
objective as to “prove that the African private sector can itself be primary
generator of economic development”. Among the roles of the foundation are
deployment of resources to generate reliable solutions to the business
constraints that derail and clog the growth of business in the private sector
in Africa.
Moreover,
Elumelu ploughs a lot of resources in philanthropic activities. Apart from the
Tony Elumelu Foundation, he was also a member of the World Economic Forum’s
Regional Agenda Council on Africa. He is also part of the Bretton Woods
Committee which brings leaders in the global banking industry together.
Voluntary development of human capital is one of the cherished interests where
Elumelu spends his wealth. He also partners with the Tony Blair Africa
Governance Initiative (AGI) with high focus on strengthening the role of the
private sector in economic transformation policies of some African countries.
This partnership is named Blair-Elumelu Fellowship Programme.
Elumelu,
the originator of the concept of Africapitalism as an economic philosophy that
reflects the commitment of players in the private sector towards the economic
transformation of Africa through long-term investment, is a consummate patriot
with a full-blown obsession for how he can make his country and continent a
better part of the world.
Interest
in paying family hospital bills, unpaid school fees, providing for families who
cannot provide their needs — all form part of what Elumelu does through his
catalytic philanthropic method of assisting human beings within the shores of
Nigeria and Africa.
Hajiya
Bola Shagaya
Hajiya
Bola Shagaya is hailed as one of Nigeria’s richest businesswomen. She is the
CEO of Bolmus International Limited. She has interests in several sectors
ranging from oil and gas, banking, cash crops export, real estate, fast-moving
consumer goods and photography.
She
has been a very influential figure in Nigeria’s corridors of power for decades
and has excelled in a society where the role of women has been restricted
traditionally. Her rise to affluence and power is not attributed to parental or
marital influence. This woman of means has skilfully built her network and
wealth from a humble background, and has proven herself as an outstanding power
broker with impressive entrepreneurial skills.
In
the manner of an astute entrepreneur, she saw opportunities in the populous
image-conscious Nigerian market, prompting the expansion of her Konica
marketing operations to photo laboratory services; that was the birth of
another of her companies – Fotofair (Nigeria) Limited. Today, Fotofair is a
leading photo laboratory company in Nigeria with over 30 laboratories spread
across the nation.
Hajiya,
as she is fondly called, has impressively carved her path in the sixth-largest
oil producer’s oil and gas sector. As far back as the late 1980s, during the
Gen. Ibrahim Babangida-led military administration, she had steered her oil and
gas company through the highly connected and contested Nigerian oil and gas
sector to secure allocations for oil blocks. Thus began her reign as an
indigenous oil marketer.
Around
2005, she became the managing director of Practoil Limited and, in 2011, she
founded another exploration company, Voyage Oil and Gas Limited.
Shagaya,
who is of Yoruba extraction, a tribe distinguished as party enthusiasts of the
over 200 tribes in Nigeria, often attends the biggest social events dressed in
“anko” with Nigeria’s first ladies — a local practice of Nigerian women
indicating bosom friendship by wearing the same traditional attire especially
to social functions.
The
one-time patron of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) is a
collector and retailer of the finest and most exquisite jewelleries from
different fashion capitals of the world. “I love fashion, artworks and
beautification endeavours,” she said.
The
graceful billionaire is not all about heavy-weight work. “I’m also a lover of
sports, especially Polo”, she said. She has consistently supported Polo tournaments
in Nigeria over the years.
Femi
Otedola
Femi
Otedola is the CEO of African Petroleum Plc. He was one of only two Nigerians
(alongside Aliko Dangote) to appear on the 2009 Forbes list of 793
dollar-denominated billionaires in the world, with an estimated net worth of
over US$1.2 billion. Femi Otedola is the Nigerian president and chief executive
officer of Zenon Petroleum and Gas limited.
Forbes
magazine estimates Femi Otedola’s net worth at $1.2 billion and ranks him as
the 601st richest person in the world. According to Encomium magazine, Femi
Otedola’s net worth is $3.5 billion.
He
owns a private jet called Challenger Global 5000 and a yatch almost similar to
Dangote’s named Nana after his wife.
Emeka
Offor
Sir
Emeka Offor, as he is often addressed rarely grants interviews, rather, he
prefers his works, businesses and philanthropy to speak for him.
His
multi-million business interest, Chrome Group, is a multifaceted organisation
which originally started as an engineering outfit handling projects such as
refinery maintenance, has today become by the grace of God, a conglomerate with
diverse interests in Oil and Gas, Finance/Investments, Telecommunications,
Insurance, Maritime, Destination Inspection, Real Estate and the Power Sector.
He
once said in a newspaper interview that he is a son of a policeman, born in
Kafanchan in Kaduna State. Offor is a goal-getter and founder of Sir Emeka Offor
Foundation, a platform through which he doles out millions of naira for
philanthropic purposes.
A
member of Rotary International and deeply involved in the 4 cardinal pursuits
of the Rotary Foundation, which are; peace and Conflict Management, Maternal
and Child Death, Basic Education and Literacy, and Polio and Guinea Worm
Eradication. He has made an outstanding donation of 250,000 USD for Peace
studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, $250,000 for Polio
eradication; $250,000 for Guinea worm eradication; and another $250,000 for
Women empowerment programmes in Nigeria. He was inducted into the Foundation
Circle of the Arch Klumph Society of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary
International, an honour reserved for individuals who have donated over
$250,000 to its causes. Through his
Foundation, he has donated over $1 million, making him the highest donor from
Africa.
This
Anambra State-born politician and businessman has heavily invested in
education. The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation is the largest single sponsor of
Books For Africa, a non-profitable organization, bringing in over $10 million
worth of books, computers and other educational materials to our national
institutions of learning and public libraries. He was reported to have also used
his money to enthrone a governor in his home state.
Andy
Uba
Initially
named Nnamdi Uba and currently a member of the National Assembly as a Senator
of the Federal Republic, Senator Andy Uba is a member of the famous Uba family
in Anambra State. He is stupendously rich and was reported to have declared his
assets to be worth N3trillion though he denied ever doing so.
Uba
has a lot of lucrative business interests and he is connected with a number of
charity works via a Foundation.
reference: omgghana
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