Nigeria has consistently produced some of the wealthiest individuals in Africa, with Forbes recently ranking Aliko Dangote as the richest black man in 2024.
Here are the top 10 wealthy Nigerians in 2024 as ranked by BusinessDay:
Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, founded and chairs Dangote Cement Plc, the continent’s largest cement producer with about N13 trillion market capitalisation. A key player in the Manufacturing sector, Aliko Dangote owns 85 percent of publicly-traded Dangote Cement through a holding company. He is the most wealthy Nigerian on the list.
Mike Adenuga
Mike Adenuga, Nigeria’s second richest man, built his fortune in telecommunications and oil production. His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the second-largest operator in Nigeria, with more than 60 million subscribers. His oil exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
Abdulsamad Rabiu
Abdulsamad Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate active in cement production, sugar refining, and real estate. In early January 2020, Rabiu merged his privately owned Obu Cement company with the listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled.
Femi Otedola
Femi Otedola is a Nigerian billionaire who made his first fortune in commodities before selling his shares in Forte Oil to invest in the energy business. Otedola is chairman of Geregu Power, a power generation business, and owns more than 70 percent of the shares. During 2022 and 2023, Otedola sold down a Geregu stake that was once more than 95 percent to bring on institutional investors.
Jim Ovia
Jim Ovia is the founder and chairman of Zenith Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Africa. He is the author of Africa Rise And Shine: How a Nigerian Entrepreneur from Humble Beginnings Grew a Business to $16 Billion, published by Forbes Books in 2018.
Igho Sanomi
Igho Charles Sanomi is a Nigerian billionaire businessman, geologist, public speaker, and philanthropist with business interests in oil, power, logistics, telecommunications, the maritime industry, aviation, and real estate. Igho Charles Sanomi II was born in Agbor, Delta, Nigeria, the fifth child and first son of a Catholic family. Sanomi was the founder and CEO of Taleveras Group (a Nigerian energy-trading company) in 2004.
Folorunso Alakija
Folorunsho Alakija (born July 15, 1951) is a Nigerian businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the group managing director of The Rose of Sharon Group and the executive vice chairman of Famfa Oil Limited. Alakija has been listed among the Forbes World’s 100 most powerful women multiple times. On July 17, 2021, Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, bestowed on her an honorary doctorate degree in business administration.
Pascal Gabriel Dozie
He is a billionaire Nigerian entrepreneur and businessman. He is the founder of Diamond Bank and the chairman of Pan-Atlantic University. Dozie was born in 1939 in the Egbu village of Owerri, Imo. Dozie began his career as an economist at the National Economic Development Office in the United Kingdom. READ ALSO:
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Jimoh Ibrahim
Jimoh Ibrahim (born 24 February 1967) is a Nigerian lawyer, politician, businessman, and philanthropist who is the senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District since 2023. The billionaire is the chairman and chief executive officer of Global Fleet Group, a diversified conglomerate based in Nigeria, with business interests and subsidiaries in neighbouring West African countries.
Danjuma Theophilus
Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (born 9 December 1938) is a Nigerian politician and retired lieutenant general who played a key role in post-independence military and political events in Nigeria. Danjuma amassed an enormous fortune through shipping and petroleum. The Taraba State-born billionaire was Chief of Army Staff from July 1975 to October 1978. He was also Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
