Business
Bloomberg rates Aliko Dangote richest man in Africa with $15.6bn
…Emerges the only Nigerian among six Africans in the top 500 Index
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote remains the richest man in Africa, despite the volatility of Nigerian currency against the dollar. Bloomberg in its daily top billionaire lists, released on Tuesday, revealed that Dangote with a wealth of $15.6 billion topped other Africans in the Index.
Dangote, who remains the richest man in Africa for the 12th year running, was the only Nigerian on the list of the top 500 billionaires, as released by Bloomberg.
Other Africans listed in the latest top 500 world billionaires list for the year 2023 include Johann Rupert and family of South Africa, now worth $13.3 billion, while Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa, Nassef Sawiris of Egypt, Natie Kirsh of South Africa, and Naguib Sawiris are also worth $9.0 billion, $7.47 billion, $7.37billion and $5.93 billion respectively. These are the only five other Africans that made the list.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people. In calculating net worth, Bloomberg News strives to provide the most transparent calculations available, and each individual billionaire profile contains a detailed analysis of how that person’s fortune is tallied.
The index is a dynamic measure of personal wealth based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg reporting. Each net worth figure is updated every business day after the close of trading in New York. Stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the share’s most recent closing price. Valuations are converted to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.
Ellon Musk and Bernard Arnault are the richest in the world with $219billion and $194 billion respectively in their kitties while Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates followed respectively with $151 billion and $130 billion. Larry Ellison was the fifth richest with $130 billion on the world’s billionaires’ chart.
Bloomberg is a global information and technology company, that connect decision makers to a dynamic network of data, people and ideas – “accurately delivering business and financial information, news and insights to customers around the world” Bloomberg L.P. provides financial software tools such as an analytics and equity trading platform, data services, and news to financial companies and organisations through the Bloomberg Terminal.’
Africa’s richest man, with his new worth of $15.6 billion, controls Dangote Industries, a closely-held conglomerate. The Lagos, Nigeria-based company owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement. It also has interests in sugar, salt, fertiliser and packaged foods. Dangote also recently commissioned the $19bn petroleum refinery plant, which is now the Africa’s largest refinery.
It would be recalled that Aliko Dangote, was also recently named as among the topmost charitable man in the World by Richtopia, a digital periodical that covers business, economics, and financial news, based in the United Kingdom. This recognition came after he endowed his foundation, the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) to the tune of $1.25 billion.
Aliko Dangote started his Foundation in 1981, with a mission to enhance opportunities for social change through strategic investments that improve health and wellbeing, promote quality education, and broaden economic empowerment opportunities.
Aliko Dangote Foundation was however incorporated in 1994 as a charity in Lagos, Nigeria. 20 years later, the Foundation has become the largest private Foundation in sub–Saharan Africa, with the largest endowment by a single African donor. The primary focus of Aliko Dangote Foundation is health and nutrition, supported by wrap-around interventions in education, empowerment, and humanitarian relief.
Business
Truecaller adds travel eSIM to portfolio
COO at Truecaller, Fredrik Kjell, said that the launch marks Truecaller’s move into mobile data services, broadening the platform beyond caller ID and spam protection, and for the first time adding digital consumables to the portfolio.
Truecaller has launched travel eSIM in Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, and 25 other countries, saying it is to deepen global communications among people by dismantling fetters occasioned by location.
COO at Truecaller, Fredrik Kjell, said that the launch marks Truecaller’s move into mobile data services, broadening the platform beyond caller ID and spam protection, and for the first time adding digital consumables to the portfolio.
Travel eSIM is also currently available to purchase in Italy, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Chile and Indonesia.
The leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication, has 500 million people already on its platform with their daily communication.
Travel eSIM extends that relationship to international travel – a category where users routinely overpay for connectivity or arrive at their destination disconnected.
Travel eSIM is a fully digital mobile data service that activates in minutes and offers plans from 1 GB over seven days to 20 GB over 30 days. Customers can buy travel eSIM in 29 markets at launch, through the Truecaller iPhone app or on the web at Truecaller.com.
Business
Nigeria’s external debt: Tinubu’s borrowing in 24 months surpasses 55 years record
He revealed that, with Nigeria’s total public debt of N159.28 trillion as of April 2026, according to the Debt Management Office, every Nigerian owes N670,000, lamenting the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s debt profile in recent years.
” The N65.9 trillion borrowed by the administration of President Bola Tinubu in the last 24 months is more than five times the total debt Nigeria incurred in the first 55 years of its Independence.”
This observation was made by Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics LTD/GTE, Dele Oye.
Oye, who is the immediate past chairman of the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN), noted that while successive governments accumulated debt over decades, the Tinubu administration alone added N65.9 trillion in two years, compared to just N12 trillion accumulated over 55 years.
He revealed that, with Nigeria’s total public debt of N159.28 trillion as of April 2026, according to the Debt Management Office, every Nigerian owes N670,000, lamenting the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s debt profile in recent years.
Oye cautioned that unless urgent measures are taken to strengthen revenue generation and fiscal discipline, the rising debt burden could place long-term pressure on public finances and constrain government spending on critical sectors.
Cast your mind back to 2006. Nigeria had just pulled off one of the most celebrated fiscal feats in African history. President Olusegun Obasanjo paid $12 billion to extinguish $30 billion in Paris Club debt. Nigeria was, briefly, externally debt-free. The Excess Crude Account (ECA) was flush. The future looked fundable. Twenty years later, that golden moment reads like a fairy tale. Under President Goodluck Jonathan, debt crept back to N12.06 trillion by 2015, manageable, but the warning signs were already blinking. Then came the Buhari years.
“In eight years, the debt exploded from N12.06 trillion to N87.38 trillion, a 620 percent increase. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was pressed into printing money through ‘Ways and Means’ advances; N23.7 trillion of this was eventually securitised into long-term bonds, effectively converting a government overdraft into a generational liability.
“Tinubu’s administration has added a further N65.9 trillion in just two years. To put that in perspective: it took Nigeria’s first 55 years of independence to accumulate N12 trillion in debt. The present administration has added more than five times that amount in 24 months,” said Oye.
Business
Gas Marketers pleads for FG intervention over soaring price for common Nigerians
NALPGAM National President, Mr. Edu Inyang, said that cooking gas now sells between N1, 500 and N1, 700 per kilogram, the current situation has placed millions of households, food vendors, small businesses and low-income earners under severe pressure, as many Nigerians can no longer afford cooking gas for daily use.
The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has appealed to the Federal Government to urgently intervene and stabilise the supply and pricing of cooking gas inoder to prevent further hardships on Nigerians.
NALPGAM National President, Mr. Edu Inyang, said that cooking gas now sells between N1, 500 and N1, 700 per kilogram, the current situation has placed millions of households, food vendors, small businesses and low-income earners under severe pressure, as many Nigerians can no longer afford cooking gas for daily use.
He disclosed that marketers pay between N25.2 million and N26.2 million for a 20-metric-tonne truck of liquefied petroleum gas, depending on location.
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