A report by Bloomberg highlighted that the Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote is now wealthier than ever, despite detesting the process that got him there.
“I didn’t know what we were building was a monster,” the Nigerian billionaire stated during a recent visit to New York.
“The pressure was coming from different directions, people confusing us, disturbing us every day with different media stories that it will never work, it will never work, it will never work,” he added.
The index showed that Dangote’s last change in valuation came in at a highly impressive +$15.1 billion, while his year to day change is +$12.7 billion.
Dangote who at the end of last year inaugurated his oil refinery in Nigeria has been at the center of several controversial episode between the refinery and the Nigerian government.
Since the Dangote refinery commenced operations, several disputes concerning the sale of Premium Motor Spirits, popularly known as petrol have slowed the refinery’s progress.
For starters, there was the issue of the sale of crude to the refinery by the Nigerian government which Dangote complained was too expensive and sold in dollars rather than the local currency.
This forced the refinery to source fuel from other markets even from as far as Brazil.
This would later be resolved as the Nigerian government with effect from October 1, 2024, began selling crude to the Dangote Refinery in Naira.
There was also the issue of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) designating itself as the sole distributor of the Dangote petrol with an exclusive purchasing rights, which limited flexibility on determining prices.
Dangote refinery
With a daily processing capacity of 650,000 barrels, the $20 billion Dangote refinery is the largest single train refinery in the world.
It aims to produce 250,000 barrels of gasoline per day and 100,000 barrels of diesel fuel per day.
It also intends to bolster Nigeria’s fuel self-sufficiency, bringing down the $26 billion spent on petroleum imports in 2022.
The refinery also has the goal of consistently supplying 11 million liters of kerosene and 9 million liters of jet fuel each day.
Fluctuating fortune of Dangote in recent months
As of July 2024, Dangote had experienced a significant drop in his net worth, despite the launch of his refinery months ago.
The year leading up to July 29th, saw the Nigerian businessman and philanthropist lose over $1 billion. This is regardless of the fact that in February, Dangote recorded a net worth of $20 billion.
Dangote’s wealth since August stagnated around $13.1 billion to $13.4 billion, making South Africa’s Johann Rupert, Africa’s richest man.
Earlier in September, Dangote’s last change in valuation came in at -$26.4M while his YTD change swung around -$1.84B.
Johann, on the other hand recorded a last change of-$234M, while boasting a YTD change of +$668M.
Then Dangote held the top spot in Africa with a net worth of $13.2 billion compared to Johann’s $13.1 billion and maintained for a very short while.
This didn’t last however, as Johanna shot up to $14.2 billion a few days later, leaving Dangote behind.
