Dangote Laments, Begs Tinubu As FG Monetary Moves are Affecting Billionaire’s Businesses.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, hurried to the Presidential Villa for a meeting with the president after falling to second place on Africa’s rich list for the first time in a decade as a result of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the new president of Nigeria, deciding to float the exchange rate.
In an unexpected visit to Tinubu, the wealthy businessman from Kano State and his friend, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, reportedly lobbied the new leader for supportive policies in response to the blow the latter took from the currency flotation.
As the richest man in Africa, Dangote had maintained his position at the top for many years by mostly relying on improprieties granted to him by the various Nigerian governments.
For instance, Dangote purchased dollars directly from the CBN during the recently-ended administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which maintained multiple exchange rates, at a rate of just over N400/$, while all other manufacturers and businessmen purchased their dollars on the open market, where they occasionally traded for between N730 and N800 per dollar.
Dangote was widely criticized for being a corrupt capitalist and has historically benefited greatly from his close ties to the government.
The continent’s top cement manufacturer hurried to the presidential villa to, as AttNews gathered to lobby for favors, but as President Tinubu appeared likely to open up the space for equal competition by starting the floating of the exchange, which immediately caused him to lose his position as the richest man on the continent, he quickly hurried there.
“Yes, I can confirm to you that Dangote discussed his business interests with Tinubu, that’s expected,” a source close to the new president disclosed. “But be sure that the president will pursue policies that would favour everyone.”
Dangote enjoyed success up until Tinubu’s monetary policy forced him out of office as a result of his fortunes plummeting and him losing a staggering $4.12 billion in a single day.
As his fortunes continued to decline, Dangote, whose multi-billion dollar refinery in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria, was caught off guard.
Following a sharp decline in the value of the Nigerian business tycoon’s assets, Forbes magazine reported on Friday that Dangote had lost his long-held position to South African billionaire Johann Rupert.
On May 29, 2023, Tinubu was inaugurated in as president of the country with the largest black population in the world. Since then, he has made some significant changes to the economy of Nigeria, including the present devaluation of the naira or floating of the naira as it is popularly known.
After Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was removed from office and then detained by agents of the Department of State Security (DSS), who had previously obtained a court order to keep him in custody for longer so they could question him further, the CBN experienced its first tsunami under Tinubu. A subordinate, Folashade Adebisi Shonubi, a mechanical engineer by training, took over for Emefiele right away.
Shonubi started devaluing the naira almost once, and late last week, the top bank officially floated the naira, putting an end to nearly ten years of exchange rate rigging that benefited well-connected people like Dangote.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index (BBI), the dollar to naira exchange rate rocketed to a whopping N750 per dollar due to the floating of the naira and the establishment of a uniform trading price between the Investor and Exporter Window and black-market merchants. This caused Dangote to lose a staggering $4.12 billion in a single day.
According to Forbes records, the billionaire’s wealth has been declining over the past ten years. Starting at $25 billion in 2014, his wealth rapidly decreased to $14.2 billion, mostly due to currency devaluations that, according to the record, have had a detrimental impact on Nigerians’ wealth, income, and purchasing power.
His assets, like as his sizeable 86 percent ownership in Dangote Cement, his holdings in Dangote Sugar Refinery, and his personal interests in Dangote Industries, were severely impacted by the naira’s flotation.
Other Nigerian billionaires, such businessman Mike Adenuga and oil and telecom tycoon Abdul Samad Rabiu, lost enormous sums of money as a result of the IPO, though.
The latest Forbes ranking places Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, who presently has a net worth of $6.9 billion, as the fourth richest person in Africa, replacing Rabiu, whose wealth dropped by $2 billion, from $8.2 billion to $6.2 billion.
