By Abubakar Yunusa
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has been ranked the 86th richest person in the world by Forbes.
The publication listed Dangote with a fortune of $23.9 billion on Monday.
Dangote’s wealth increased by 85.27 percent or $11 billion year-on-year, from $12.9 billion net worth reported by Forbes on February 18, 2023.
According to Forbes, the fortunes of Africa’s wealthiest man were primarily due to his 92.3 percent stake in Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals.
The 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) facility began processing crude into products, including diesel, naphtha, and jet fuel in January 2024.
Nine months later, the refinery started processing petrol.
The refinery has since been making efforts to ramp up production, receiving about 24 million barrels of Nigerian supply in October and November last year.
Reports on January 28 said Dangote refinery is also expected to receive up to 12 million barrels of crude oil from the United States.
On February 10, the refinery said it could begin operating at full capacity in 30 days.
Also, Forbes said Elon Musk, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Tesla, retained the top spot on the world’s richest ranking.
Musk’s wealth stood at $393.2 billion.
Second on the list is Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Meta, who was valued at $247.2 billion, while Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, was ranked third with $240.1 billion.
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