How Tinubu Ruined Dangote, Via CBN Currency Floating Policy

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have ruined Aliko Dangote after the former dropped as Africa’s richest man in a new Forbes rating released on Friday.

ENigeria Newspaper reports that Aliko Dangote has lost the title of Africa’s richest man after a ten-year reign since 2013. Dangote had a great run until President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s monetary policy displaced him following a plummet in his fortune which saw him lose a whopping $4.12 billion in a day.

Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group who just completed his multi-billion-naira refinery in Lekki, Lagos Nigeria was caught unawares as his fortune continued to dwindle, this is despite paying a visit to the newly sworn-in President in a frantic bid to seal his place in the new political dispensation.

Announcing the dethronement of Dangote from the richest man in Africa rating, Forbes Magazine on Friday in its updated Africa billionaires list announced that Dangote lost his long-held position to South African billionaire Johann Rupert, after the wealth of the Nigerian business guru plummeted drastically.

How Tinubu Ruined Dangote

Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is sworn in as President of the world’s most populous black nation on May 29, 2023, has made some drastic changes across some sensitive sectors in the Nigerian economy, among which is the current devaluation of the naira or floating of the naira as it is popularly known.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) witnessed its first tsunami under Tinubu after the Apex bank’s governor, Godwin Emefiele was suspended from office and further arrested by men of the Department of State Security (DSS) who days back obtained a court order to hold him longer in detention for further interrogation. Emefiele was immediately succeeded by a subordinate, Folashade Adebisi Shonubi, a Mechanical Engineer by training.

Daily Trust Newspaper in a recent exclusive report published online, revealed that CBN under the leadership of Adebisi Shonubi has commenced the devaluation of the Nigerian currency, but the report was quickly dispelled by the CBN as fake news.

However, Daily Trust in a press statement released shortly afterward owned and stood its ground that the report was indeed factual. Only days after, the new space was awash with the CBN floating the naira, hence confirming The Trust’s report to indeed be true and that paved the way for Dangote’s fall from the radar of Africa’s Richest Billionaire according to Forbes’s recent rating.

By floating the naira and allowing a uniform trading price between the Investor and Exporter Window and the black-market merchants, dollar to naira exchange rate skyrocketed to a whopping N750 per dollar – a major rise from the N4669 in the I&E window, leading to Dangote’s loss of a whopping $4.12 billion in one day, according to Bloomberg Billionaire Index (BBI).

ENigeriaNews.com reports that the billionaire’s fortune has been in decline over the past decade, according to Forbes records. Starting at $25 billion in 2014, his fortune gradually declined to $14.2 billion, largely influenced by currency devaluations that have negatively impacted the wealth, income, and purchasing power of Nigerians, per the record.

Although ENigeria Newspaper can confirm that the development wiped off enormous fortune from the coffers of Nigerian billionaires, not only Dangote.

Consequently, the floatation of the naira had a severe impact on his assets, including his substantial 86 percent stake in Dangote Cement, his holdings in Dangote Sugar Refinery; and his private interests in Dangote Industries, per Billionaire.
However, the floatation saw other Nigerian billionaires, including industrialist Abdul Samad Rabiu, and telecom and oil mogul Mike Adenuga lose huge fortunes as well.

Rabiu’s net worth experienced a $2 billion decline, falling from $8.2 billion to $6.2 billion, causing him to lose his position as the fourth-richest person in Africa to Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, who currently boasts a net worth of $6.9 billion according to Forbes’ latest rating.

With the deregulation of the Nigerian forex market, which means that market forces will hence determine the value of the naira against the US dollar, Dangote and other Nigerian billionaires will likely see their fortune plunge further – this is according to analysis report released by experts who spoke to this newspaper over the weekend.

Dailypost reports on the other hand that Rupert’s net worth is currently $12 billion according to Forbes Real-time Global Billionaires Ranking, while Dangote trails behind him with a net worth of $10.8 billion as of Friday.

Dangote’s net worth dropped due to the recent operational charges on the foreign exchange market carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which led to the depreciation of the Naira against the US dollar.
Although they say, Dangote is expected to bounce back upon the kick-off of his Dangote refinery in July, whether dry bones shall rise again in this instance, remains to be seen as time goes on.

Dangote’s business ventures and assets

Currently, Dangote Group’s main listed companies are Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, and Nascon Allied Industries.

Dangote’s other public assets include shares in Dangote Sugar, Nascon Allied Industries, and United Bank for Africa. The company’s interests in public companies are held directly and through his Dangote Industries, which also includes closely related companies engaged in food manufacturing, fertilizer, petroleum, and other industries.

Dangote’s fertilizer plant is capable of producing up to 2.8 million tons of urea per year. Its net worth is based on discounted cash flow analysis by KPMG. This rating was confirmed by an external analyst.

The magnate also owns six residential and commercial properties in Lagos. These will be valued using a capitalization method using rental income provided by Dangote spokesperson Anthony Chiejina and CBRE Broll Nigeria’s valuation rate.

The company’s cement equities rewarded investors who take positions in Dangote Cement shares in 2020 and exited on June 31, 2023, with a return of 140.26% through price appreciation and more than 11% in the first half of 2023.

For its 2022 earnings results, the company paid a dividend of N20.00 per share, which has led to a new bid for its shares.