Egyptian, SA billionaires overtake Abdulsamad Rabiu on Africa’s richest list after naira devaluation

RIPPLES NIGERIA

Nigerian billionaire, Abdulsamad Rabiu, has lost his position on Africa’s richest list to Egyptian billionaires, Nassef Sawiris and Naguib Sawiris, following the naira devaluation by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Prior to the devaluation of the naira on Wednesday, Rabiu was ahead of the Sawiris brothers, occupying the fourth spot with $8.27 billion, according to the African Billionaire Index data obtained from Bloomberg and analysed by Ripples Nigeria.

He sat above Natie Kirsh of South Africa, who was worth $7.33 billion and ranked fifth. At the time Nassef’s estimated net worth was $7.30 billion, which placed him in the sixth position, ahead of Naguib, whose fortune was valued at $5.93 billion, ranking him at the seventh spot.

The only billionaires ahead of Rabiu were Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, estimated to be worth $20.93 billion, South African billionaire, Johann Rupert & family, occupied the second spot with $13.14 billion and his countryman, Nicky Oppenheimer, valued at $9 billion.

However, on Thursday, Rabiu dropped three places, from the fourth position to the seventh spot, as he lost $2.73 billion to the naira devaluation, which dwindled his wealth from $8.27 billion to $5.54 billion.

Following the drop in Rabiu’s net worth, Kirsh rose through the rank, with his wealth put at $7.32 billion, indicating a drop of $15.8 million. However, despite the loss, Kirsh took the fourth spot.

Nassef also saw his spot change upward on Africa’s billionaire list, as his fortune was estimated at $7.31 billion, pushing him to the fifth position.

Ripples Nigeria’s analysis of the data showed that Naguib grabbed the sixth spot after his net worth increased by $48.9 million to $5.98 billion.

Meanwhile, the gap between Dangote, Rupert and Oppenheimer shrank after the Nigerian billionaire lost $3.12 billion in his net worth to the naira devaluation as well.

This reduced his wealth from $20.92 billion to $17.8 billion, but it was still enough for Dangote to retain the number one position as Africa’s richest person.

While Dangote’s wealth dropped, that of Rupert increased from $13.14 billion to $13.2 billion, which helped him cement the second spot.